Naruto Saga
by firedragon-08
Summary: the tale of naruto and how he became hokage and find his precious people bad summary but the story will be nice enjoy rated T for mild swearing over 2000 visitors
1. Chapter 1

Naruto talking – "hello"

Demon and summon talking- "**hello"**

Naruto thinking –"_what the heck"_

Demon and summon thinking –_**"what the heck"**_

Chapter 1:-

PROLOUGE:

In the land of fire, there was the greatest of villages the Konohagurae no satue (the village hidden in the leaves).like all the villages it is ruled by a this case here it is ruled by the greatest and the most feared of all kages Minato Namikaze the fourth hokage. But our story does not start peacefully.

"The kyubbi no kitsune is attacking the village. Tighten the defences" said a random chunnin." We must hold the line till the hokage arrives" said hatake kakashi an anbu captain and surviving student of minato namikaze. Meanwhile

In the hokage's office,

"Minato you must reconsider, this is your son, you can't use him to seal the demon fox "said sarutobi hiruzen the former third hokage, he is an old man who was wearing a old robe beneath it was an armour (just like in the chunnin exam invasion) pleading to a blonde haired man who was wearing the hokages robe and was writing furiously on a piece of scroll "let me at least do it you have your wife and son to worry about ".

Then the door opened, in walked a white haired man who was wearing a kabuki actor clothing along with the wooden sandals and all, he was carrying a baby in a pile of blankets looking very worn and haggard, he is one of the sannin, Jirayia the toad sage author of the hit series icha icha paradise and the teacher of minato namikaze. By his entrance the blonde haired man looked up and rushed to take the baby.

"Hey there squirt "he cooed to the baby playing with his fingers and looking him with tearful and loving eyes. Then glanced up at jirayia."Is she alright"

"No, minato there was a complication during birth "said jirayia

Minato was stunned and yelled "WHAT how did this happen and where was tsundae".

"She was using her chakra to protect the baby during birth and there was less maintenance staff in the hospital"said jirayia "and tsundae was at the camp at the front lines tending to the wounded, I am sorry".

"Please minato reconsider you must be there atleast for your son" pleaded sarutobi

"Wish I can sarutobi but while you do know the seals your chakra capacity is not enough to seal a monster like kyubbi "said minato

"Then let me do it gaki you have a life ahead of you "growled jirayai."You know I can't the village needs your spy system besides I am the hokage I must do this "said minato.

"stubborn baka" muttered jirayai .minato looked at him with tears in his eyes and" please look after him and tell him that i will always be proud of him" said minato and he left the office and that is the last time they saw him alive

At the battle field things were not looking good, no matter what jutsu the ninja used it was useless against the kyubbi and there was a giant puff of smoke and when it was cleared there stood minato namikaze holding a bundle of blankets atop a 200 foot toad wearing a coat and smoking a pipe, it was gamabunta the toad boss of mount myobukuzan.

"**Why did you call me minato and is that kyubbi"** said gamabunta."It s good to see you too gamabunta"said minato sarcastically "come on, we have work to do"

"**this better be worth it minato"**muttered gamabunta and drew his short dagger and rushes at kyubbi who dodged it and brought three of it tails down at him, the toad dodged to the side and slashed him from an uppercut with the dodged it by leaping backwards and brought his claws down onto the boss toads face drawing a line on his left eye.

"**That's going to leave a scar"** muttered gamabunta and flew at kyubbi again this time successfully pinning it.

Minato was waiting for this and started doing a long chain of seals and yelled"shiki fujin"and there was a ominous presence felt by all at the battlefield. Kyubbi started to thrash and tried to get away from the hold that gamabunta was having on him but it was too late the shinigami started to transfer the soul of the fox and seal it within the baby

After completing the process the presence disappeared and gamabunta went back to the summon realm and every one saw the beast body was starting to disintegrate and started cheering for a moment and stopped to gaze in shock as they saw the fourth hokage starting to fall and was caught by jirayia who set him on the ground.

"I......couldn't kill.........the fox........so....sealed it....treat him as........a....hero......his name is .....Naruto Uzumaki" said minato and took his last breadth. The surrounding ninjas were sad and many started to cry for their fallen leader. Sarutobi picked up the child while jirayia picked up minato's body and in silence they made their way to the hokage's office.

"Now what"said jirayia when they closed the door and sealed it to be sound proof "well i have to take the mantle of hokage again" sighed sarutobi"and the blasted paperwork that is why i stepped down the first place"

"have you seen tsundae"continued sarotubi "No, i think she took off again well i am too,take care of Naruto, sensei "said jirayai as he headed to the window "try to give him a good life"

"_oh,jirayai that is what i am afraid of this village"_thought sarutobi

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NOTE:

this is my first story reviews are welcome and can anyone tell me the Japanese word for"the power of the human sacrifice


	2. Chapter 2

Naruto talking – "hello"

Demon and summon talking- "**hello"**

Naruto thinking –"_what the heck"_

Demon and summon thinking –**_"what the heck"_** ****

Chapter 1:-

Naruto walked through the forest of the Wave. He was not his usual upbeat and happy self. After all he only acted dumb around others due to fear, fear if they would kill if they find out he was smart enough to know when the academy instructors sabotaged his test papers, fear of people who see him as the fox getting stronger. he sighed ,It had been a week since the battle on the bridge. With Gato gone, the villagers of the Wave were on their way to recovery. The bridge was almost done and team Kakashi would soon be on their way back to Konoha.

However, the victory had two causalities. Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist, and his apprentice, Haku, were killed. One died for his precious person, the other died in getting revenge for the person he cared for most. They were buried near the bridge in honour of defeating gato

He reached the grave site and sat himself in front of the two deceased ninja's graves. He stayed silent for a while.

"Haku, I wonder if I will find my precious person like you and Zabuza. At first, I thought that my team would be those people but I was wrong. Even after everything, they still see me as an annoyance. My sensei, if you could call him that, sees me just like the villagers in my village. Oh yeah, I never told you my sad story huh? Well, thirteen years ago the nine-tailed demon fox was sealed inside me. Since I could walk, I've been hated and alone. Sure I had old man Hokage to watch over me, not to forget Iruka-sensei, but I wanted the acknowledgement of the whole village. That's why I want to be Hokage because everyone respects and loves him." Naruto sighed. His blond hair covered his eyes and his head was down. A few tears fell from his eyes. "I'm beginning to think that I'm fooling myself. Even Kakashi treats me like I'm nothing. Maybe… maybe I should just quit?" he cried

"No why should I quit" suddenly, eyes hardening" I will never become desperate enough to ignore those who ignore me in favor of others, it is the same with kakashi sensei he only trains sasuke and sakura will not hesitate to kill me if it means sasuke's attention, that's it, Haku I swear on your grave that I will protect my precious people and I will find those people who care about me and not the stupid I am to become strong then I need training but who will train me maybe I will ask hokage-jiji about this."

Saying this Naruto touched the prayed and headed back to tazuna's home.

A week later, the bridge was finished and team seven was on their way back to Konoha. Naruto was currently engrossed in his thinking and came to a decision, Naruto decided not to tell kakashi and his team mates about this since He doesn't trust them.

Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Kakashi.

"You are awfully quiet?" he asked

"Oh, it's nothing just thinking about the ramen I missed eating that is all. Sorry, I'm not paying attention. Did you want something?" Naruto asked, grinning stupidly. He silently prayed that he brought it. He didn't want Kakashi to know about his plans. Kakashi just smiled at him.

"Well, enjoy dreaming." He said. Naruto silently sighed in relief. Kakashi let him go back to the scroll. He kept an eye on his blond student. Truth was he was concerned about him. Naruto had taken his training much more seriously. He worked on his chakra control like he told him to. He had also increased his physical exercise as well. What worried him was he did these things alone. He barely asked him for tips any more and he separated himself away from the team. Kakashi was beginning to wonder if he had caused his change in behavior by ignoring him. He decided to keep a close eye on his student.

--

Naruto along with team seven stood in front of the Hokage. Kakashi was giving his report about the mission but Naruto was hardly paying attention. He was mostly in thought about how he was going to speak to the hokage about his training

He looked as Kakashi finished his report and saw the sandanime glance at him furrowing his brow due to his silence, he bade them to go and asked Naruto to stay there. after his team mates left he turned

The Sandaime smiled at the contrite Naruto. It was a rare instance where Naruto would be silent

. "Well, Naruto you were particularly silent, is there anything you would wish to tell me' asked the Sandaime kindly.

Naruto fidgeted and looked taking a deep breadth; he said "I was wondering if there is any way for me to train to become strong."

"isn't kakashi teaching you anything I thought it would be some thing like this seeing you did not remove your mask of emotions ,"asked Sandaime in an angry tone.

"what do you mean how do you know about that, I thought I was convincing "said Naruto in a horrified chuckled and said "give me some credit boy, I did not become hokage overnight I always knew your mask and your intelligence.

"How the hell do you know about that" muttered Naruto in an angry tone

"Well, you were able to infiltrate nearly all the clan compounds for your pranks and you did paint the hokage monument in broad day light and not to mention you mastered kage bunshin a jounin level technique in matter of 3 hours when it takes a normal jounin several weeks"said the Sandaime amicably

Naruto blushed as his exploits were said and asked his help for his training again.

"What did kakashi teach you, tell me that and I will say what areas you need training for you to strong "said Sandaime while narrowing his eyes in anger. "Well he taught me tree climbing "said Naruto

"THAT IS IT, you were assigned to team 7 a month ago and that is all he taught you, you should have finished that by the first week itself" roared Sandaime generating a lot of killing intent "I am sorry Naruto, I thought kakashi would teach you and treat you as an equal seeing that he was the fourths student "glancing at the portrait of the fourth hokage

"Figures, that blonde jerk "muttered Naruto giving the portrait a angry flinched at this and changed the subject hastily. "Well I cant help you personally as it would be favoritism"

Naruto gave a defeated sign at this and his shoulders slumped. _"Well there goes that idea"_

"But I can give you permission to use the library "continued Sandaime."How is that going to help me jiji, the librarian will just throw me out and the library is filled with only theory and I don't need those "said Naruto sarcastically.

"Hmm tell me Naruto you said you want to become strong, yes" asked Sandaime thoughtfully

"Yes" replied Naruto rolling his eyes. The Sandaime chuckled at this and said" well Naruto how do you think you will become strong if you do not have adequate book knowledge and by the mission report you do think on you feet as you showed when you freed kakashi from zabuza's water prison but your strategy works on the fact that you rely fully on your kage bunshin, let me ask you this if you are not trained than how will your clones be any use it will only be an annoyance "said the Sandaime bluntly.

Naruto slumped his shoulders more at this and said stubbornly "well it got me this far didn't it and I don't even know any other jutsu, so there"

Sandaime sighed and said patiently" Naruto, there is a difference between how you fight which classifies you whether you are a ninja or a mercenary. A mercenary is a one who fights in a reckless manner but a ninja is a person who THINKS while he fights. that is a ninjas greatest strength, how do you think the other hokages became the strongest hokages in the land of fire"

Naruto stared at him and thought about what he said and asked him to elaborate

The Sandaime filled his pipe thoughtfully and continued after lighting it he said" well take the shodaime for example he was a powerful ninja in his own right not only is he a powerful master of the wood element but he was a great war master who brought together the clans uniting it as a single village and his brother the second hokage his skills with the water element and kenjutsu is legendary even kiri ninja did not come close to beating him in that element making him the suiton master "

"And "continued sandaime"there is the fourth hokage he was a master of all the ninja arts, in nnjutsu, taijutsu he was unbeatable and his genjutsu was great but his greatest strength is his fuinjutsu because of this he defeated battalions of iwa ninja and of course even the seal on your stomach is his handiwork making him the greatest seal master this world has ever seen" .

Naruto grunted at this but did not interrupt.

"then there are the sannin I trained, you must have been taught about them in class, I know you were listenining while you were faking sleeping"

"Yeah I had to otherwise I would have been thrown out and yes I know of the legendary three, how one taught the fourth hokage and another is a traitor "said Naruto blandly.

Sarutobi flinched at both of his statements and said in a painful voice" yes, well orichimaru the snake sannin while a traitor is a ninjutsu master who can crack open any ninjutsu just by a glance at their hand seals and perform a counter and tsundae the slug sannin is a great medic ninja the best in the world and due to her chakra control gives her great strength making even the strongest of shinobi shudder and finally we have jirayai the toad a sannin who is a spy master who spealises in infiltration and assassination and his skills in fuinjutsu is rivaled onlty by the fourth hokage".

Naruto jaw was on the ground after hearing this and asked curiously "and what do you specialize in jiji"

Sarutobi chuckled at this and said" well not to brag but I am an elemental master I have full mastery of all 5 element the wind, water, fire, earth and lightening. I know over a thousand jutsus earning the nick name "the professor" and during battle I have never been defeated giving me a nick name "the god of all shinobi".

"wow,jiji"admired Naruto with stars in his eyes" I did not know that"then shook himself "well this is interesting and all but what about my predicament you cant teach me and you can't assign others to teach me and I cant get any jutsu scroll from the library".

"who said you can't get it from the library"interrupted sarutobi"the rules apply to those who come from clans boy with you there is an exception since you are an orphan and need additional training you can get c ranked jutsu scrolls from the library on my permission"

"seriously jiji thanks whooo hooo"shoted Naruto , the sandanime chuckled at this and said"Naruto, let me tell you this a great ninja does not need many jutsus but a great ninja need to master the said jutsus he has and the knowledge of when to use them,know this then you truly will have the will of fire in you".

"alright jiji, I will make you proud and for my dream of surpassing all the hokages I will master all the elements like you even will take up sealing like the fourth and surpass them",

Sandanime roared at that with laughter at the boy whom he saw as a second grandsons attics and wished him best for that

Then"how will I master them all there wont be enough time"deflating like a plopped balloons said Naruto.

"why don'y you use kage bunshin surely you must have noticed the side effect"said sarutobi."you mean with the different memories I get from the bunshins yeah I noticed,but isint that cheating"countered naruto

"_the uchiha and kakashi can have this humanity"_thought sarutobi wistfully"Naruto, it is a tool like all the other bloodlines they give an advantage over other ninjas it is like this and a wise man once said "we can have ambitions but we need to have the power to control that ambition"something tells me you can control the power of your ambition"said sarutobi

"oh I see"said Naruto who got up and said"well jiji it was nice talking to you and one more thing why don't you use kage bunshins to finish paper work faster"grinned Naruto when he was at the door"

Sandanime thought about this and his left eye started twithing, he went to the nearest wall and started banging his head at the saw this and left the office while thinking of going to ichiruki ramen and getting his ramen.

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NOTE:

please review and tell me your opinion about this story


	3. Chapter 3

Naruto talking – "hello"

Demon and summon talking- "**hello"**

Naruto thinking –"_what the heck"_

Demon and summon thinking –_**"what the heck"**_

Chapter 3:-

When Naruto went to ichirakui ramen stand he saw his second most precious person there, his academy teacher Iruka chatting with the ramen stand owner Teuchi ichirakui while his daughter ayame was wiping the table, other than the hokage he trusted these three people , teuchi often hid Naruto in his stand during his birthdays and even gave free ramen to him when he was very young and when he was broke, he secretly added the necessary vitamins and protein tablets for him in his broth just so he can have a balanced diet with out the knowledge of course and Ayame, he consider her almost his sister not only was she the first one to show him kindness but also the one who taught him how to read and write at a young age. She was the one will stock groceries in his apartment as the villagers will only give him rotten food and expired milk. He never did use his mask around them though it was a shock for Iruka sensei atleast when he heard it and apologised profusely that he was one of his haters during the start of his year which Naruto forgave easily When he entered all three looked at him and gave him a smile.

"Hello Naruto back from the mission already" asked Iruka.

"Yes sensei" said Naruto "just got back actually, I will take 5 bowls of miso ramen old man and keep up coming "

Teuchi chuckled and asked "How was the mission"

Naruto told them blow by blow detail and slightly exaggerated at certain parts.

Iruka jaw was on the ground and asked in a incredulous voice "you completed an A ranked mission and helped defeat one of the seven swordsman of the mist"

"Yup"said a happy Naruto as he gorged himself on the ramen eating with a finesse of a freight train with ramen noodles on the side of his mouth.

"Anyway, Iruka sensei, I realised something on the mission, about how weak I am, you know about my skills, please tell me about what all i need to improve myself". Looking at him with puppy dog eyes and jutting his lower lip.

Iruka sweatdropped at this and said in an even voice" You were never academically the best student and you were barely good psychically. Yes, you had the most potential in the class but you focused your attention on getting the village to acknowledge you through you stupid pranks." he explained

"Gee, thanks Iruka-sensei." Naruto mumbled

"If it makes you happy, you were the stealthiest of the class, even higher than Sasuke." Iruka said

"I only fell slightly well." Naruto said. He sighed and gave Iruka a serious look. "So be honest with me, how much do I need to improve?"

"Truth be told, the Shadow Clone jutsu can take only so far. You could use some long range attacks all though it doesn't really suit you. Your taijutsu needs work. I would tell you to learn some genjutsu but you just don't have the skill for that. Still, I would learn how to detect and dispel them. That's all I can really tell you." Iruka said

"Well, at least you were honest with me. Thanks Iruka-sensei."

"No problem. I'm just happy to see that you are beginning to take this more seriously. So let's celebrate to that. I'll treat you to some ramen."

"All right!!" Naruto cheered" thanks sensei".

"Bye old man, bye nee san "said Naruto as he went back to the apartment to get a good nights rest and planning to go to the library the next day.

The Konoha library, a place which can be considered a mansion with endless rows and rows of scrolls filled with nearly every information except the clan techniques, it was managed by a librarian Tatsuki Iwasu an old war veteran who's love of knowledge made her take the job of a librarian after her retirement was holding a scroll bearing the hokage's seal

And looking at it in confusion thought "_has hokage-sama finally lost his marbles, he is giving permission to access low chunnin level scrolls to a genin"_she thought with a frown. She peered over the scroll to look at a sun kissed blonde haired boy wearing an orange jumpsuit having whisker marks on his face, who was looking around uncomfortably at her and around the place.

"_Wait a minute, blonde hair, whisker marks on his face, ah….the kyubbi container "_thoughtTatsuki, she never hated the boy looking back she seen the fox and knew of its destructive power and was having a hard time thinking that boy was just plain unlucky to be chosen for this task.

Naruto was looking around nervously and giving a nervous glance at the grey haired librarian who looked way to strict in his opinion. He saw her give a long sigh and she said" well hokage-sama has given orders to give you access, we have the taijutsu, ninjutsu and genjutsu. What do you need, boy? Asked tatsuki.

Naruto thought hard" _well, I can go for ninjutsu but if the one thing kakashi sensei said right is that I have bad chakra control, so better go for it first before stepping to ninjutsu and as for taijutsu well it is a freaking mess and I need to find out how to increase my speed and strength as well so better go for taijutsu first and then chakra control scrolls and after I master them I will go for the others"_.

"Well can we go to the taijutsu section please" squeaked Naruto

Tatsuki gave him a strange look and asked him to follow her and took him to a portion of the library containing the taijutsu scrolls, there were hundreds of scrolls and Naruto was gob smacked on which to choose from.

He ignored the old lady and started to skim through the scrolls.

Naruto thought that some of them were cool because of the flashy moves and reached for them when his hand was smacked by tatsuki.

He gave her an angry glare and screamed" WHY DID YOU DO THAT, you old hag".

"you really don't know what to take do you, that style will never fit your form, brat" scolded tatsuki. Naruto gave her a blank stare and asked her" and how do you know that whoever you are"

Tatsuki gave another sigh and said " the name is Tatsuki Iwase, brat and that style you chose relies heavily on hands which gives your legs least movement thus easily exploited"

"Oh, then what do I take then Tatsuki Baa-Chan" asked Naruto

Tatsuki gave Naruto a once over and started down the style looking at the scrolls muttering t herself "hmm, too flashy……..not flexible enough……..maybe goken certainly has the upper body strength and may have speed will keep it in the back burner for now……..AHA" exclaimed tatsuki in a quiet voice taking out a yellowing scroll.

Naruto was curiously peeking by the side and asked which scroll she has chosen for him.

She said "this style called **kenpo**. It is a very old style and not commonly used any more. The style focuses on strong and quick punches, fluid movements and bone-jarring kicks, it should be suitable for your body due to its lean stature".

"Kenpo sounds lame" said Naruto in a bland tone. Tatsuki was quick to admonish him telling that while old it was still a very formidable technique.

"Well thanks baa-chan, do you know how to increase my speed and strength while traning"asked Naruto in a hopeful tone. Never have a person had helped him and while the old lady looked strict she did help him and hoped he would help her still.

Tatsuki gave him her one of the rare smile and watched him beaming at her and asked how the people could see him as the fox, shaking the stupidity of the people she said" well Gaki (brat), you can always buy chakra weights to increase your speed and do you need anything else".

"Just chakra control methods the advanced ones" said Naruto thinking where he can buy these weights.

Tatsuki took a scrolls from one of the shelves from the ninjutsu section and asked him "any way gaki how do you plan on doing the chakra control exercises anyway seeing as you are generating chakra that would tire out most chunnin"

"Well I know kage bunshin and I plan to perform a large number of them to master them "said Naruto puffing out his chest in pride. Tatsuki gave him a surprised look and asked him how much can he make.

"Well at full strength close to a few hundred "said Naruto and saw tatsuki gawking at him.

"I can see why you need chakra control, if I make a bold suggestion gaki, come here every morning and leave a few kage bunshin behind "said tatsuki

"Why" asked Naruto curiously?

"Well gaki a ninja needs both brain and brawn if he needs to survive and if you leave some bunshins here you can study here about chakra and its properties and strategy (you never know when you might need them) and history, geography as well.

"WHAT, why do I need those "whined Naruto

"Like I said boy a good ninja needs brawn and brain, now out, come by tomorrow" scolded tatsuki.

"See ya, you old hag" wished Naruto as he made way to his home. On the way he thought it would be a good time to find those chakra weights so stuffing both the scrolls in his jumpsuit he turned back to town.

"Get out and stay out, you filthy brat "yelled a shop keeper and closed the door.

Naruto sighed in annoyance, this was the sixth shop he went so far and still no results either threw him out or plainly refused to sell him anything as he almost gave up and decided to turn back

And spotted a small weapons shop tucked in a corner, he gave another sigh and made a bet to himself thinking how long it will take this shop keeper to throw him out and entered the shop. Naruto opened the door and heard a bell jingle saw the shop filled with weapons many he knew and some he didn't even know about and saw a girl having two buns in her hair looking eerily like a panda was sitting on the counter and raised his eyebrow slightly seeing that she was seeing a magazine only instead of a fashion magazine it was a weapons catalogue.

On hearing the bell the kunochi by the looks of it said in a bored voice "hi, welcome to Kurosaki weapon shop (bear with me). How may I help you?"

"_Well she is young maybe I will get it here at a decent prize…………..oh shit" _thought Naruto as he saw a man maybe the girls father, he was clearly well built his tight shirt rippling with muscles along with a jounin vest with scars on his hands indicating a jounin ninja.

Ishinn Kurosaki came from the forge by hearing the frond door bell ringing indicating a customer and saw a blonde haired boy with whisker marks on his face who was looking at him with fearful eyes and by his body posture was in a run or defense mode and narrowed his eyes recognizing him immediately.

He chuckled and asked in a good natured tone"well what can I do for you in this wonderful day and let me introduce you to my daughter TenTen Kurosaki and you can call me Ishinn, what is your name?"

Naruto looked at the man as if he lost his mind and seeing as it did not look like a trap he answered "hi, the name is Naruto Uzumaki".

"Well Naruto what can I do for you" asked TenTen

"I need a pair of chakra weights for my wrists and ankles "asked Naruto.

"Sure we have them, they are a little expensive, and anything else "asked TenTen as she took it from a nearby cupboard

"No thank you "said Naruto politely

"Can I see your kunai and shuriken please "interrupted Ishinn

"Sure "said a perplexed Naruto handing them both, Ishinn looked at them with a careful and critical eye and tssked at them and said "these are the most poor quality I ever laid eyes on"

"And cost a fortune too" muttered Naruto

"How about you take a set of kunai and shuriken as well "said Ishinn

"Erm thanks" stuttered Naruto "how much" taking out Gama chan his frog purse.

"Ishinn chuckled again and said "for you it's free of charge"

TenTen who was billing the items was shocked and yelled"WHAT,free,but dad you never give things free not to your closest friends and heck not even to me seeing as our weapons quality's are the one of the best in fire country"

"Well, this is different" said Ishinn in a soothing voice.

While TenTen was yelling Naruto was imitating a fish, nobody has ever given them anything free for him except ichirakui ramen and asked in a suspicious voice" are you sure mister"

"Call me Ishinn boy and as for the items take it as a gift from us as our protector "said Ishinn winking at Naruto.

Naruto with tearful eyes said thank you and taking his items left to go home.

"What was that about" demanded TenTen from her father.

Ishinn however ignored her and thought _"so that is your son Kushina he acts just like you _"and went back inside the forge

As Naruto was going to his apartment he couldn't help but that today was a good day for him thinking that there may even be precious people for him even if they knew his secret


	4. Chapter 4

Naruto talking – "hello"

Demon and summon talking- "**hello"**

Naruto thinking –"_what the heck"_

Demon and summon thinking –_**"what the heck"**_

Chapter 4:

The next day, Naruto sought out the Hokage. He had forgone using the door and went right up the side of the building. He reached the top and moved toward the Hokage's window. He looked through to see the Hokage. He had a small orange book in his hand and he looked to be giggling. It was the same book that Kakashi would read. He decided to let himself be known and knocked on the glass. He saw as the Third jumped in his seat and turned toward him. He just gave him a stupid grin.

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It didn't take to long for Naruto to get what he wanted from the old man. Sure, it was wrong to blackmail the leader of his village but this was something very important. Surprisingly, the old man had not put up that much of a fight after he explained himself. He had given him a map of the training ground that he was personally keeping maintained. It was very confusing but he had gotten what he wanted. He was nearing the training ground that was marked on the map. He entered the clearing and stopped to look at the place. He was in awe at how big the place was. There was a so much room in this place. He looked over the whole place. There were training dummies, an obstacle course, a lake and a small cabin

He put on the chakra weights he got from Kurosaki weapon shop and sent chakra to it and made it to weigh 10 kg each. He then created a few hundred Kage Bunshin and sent a group to do tree climbing while he sent another to do water walking exercise and the last group he made them to study and practice the basics of kenpo.

"Well let's get started "said Naruto followed by a chorus of "YYYEEEAAAAHHHH"from the clones

Ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred!" Naruto counted and hung in the air. Sweat was rolling down his stomach and stained his shirt. He cut his chakra off to release himself from the tree branch. He flipped and landed without trouble on the ground. It had been two weeks since he had began to use this place to improve his skills. It had helped a lot and his skills were improving. It wasn't a big jump but it was there. Naruto heard his alarm clock go off and he knew that it was time to go. He sighed and went into the cabin. He had prepared a bath so he could clean himself off. The cabin was big enough for one person. It had storage place for what ever he may want to keep here. So far, he had some extra clothes and the scrolls that he got from the Wave mission. There were all ready some bed rolls and robes that had to be cleaned.

He sat in the man made tube and soaked for a while. He wasn't looking forward to going to meet his team. If he had to be honest, his team was holding him back. It was the same as always, Kakashi would have him and Sakura work on their chakra control, no matter how good they were at it. He would take Sasuke aside and help him. It was frustrating and it pissed him off. He had enough of it and decided to do his own thing. It had gotten him in trouble among the team but Naruto didn't care. He was improving without his 'so-called' team help. He sighed and got out of the bath. He needed to get to the bridge and back to boring D-rank missions.

But before going to the bridge, he remembered what Tatsuki said and made a detour to the library, when he got there he saw Tatsuki arranging a few scrolls

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At the library,

"Hi there, Tatsuki Baa Chan" said Naruto greeted with a grin

"Hello there Naruto, I see you remembered to come here "greeted Tatsuki with a small smile tugging on her lips.

"Can I just create a few shadow clones and go Baa Chan I am kinda late for the team meeting "said Naruto

"Alright, I have prepared the books you needed, it is there on the table and boy here take this "said Tatsuki and handing him a scroll.

"Sure, what is it" asked Naruto

"It contains the basic starter Jutsu for all five elements; Sandaime Sama said it is your ambition to master all five elements, so he said i should give you this scroll since it takes time for you to master all the elements beside your primary "said Tatsuki

"What do you mean by primary element "asked Naruto with a curious sir

"each person has a specific affinity brat, like the uchihas who always have a primary or secondary element as the fire element, there are mainly 5 elements each person has atleast one element, more over each Jounin must have atleast two elemental affinities as a qualification for Jounin candidate "said Tatsuki

"WOW" exclaimed Naruto and thought _"no wonder Sasuke is a pyro maniac _"and asked "how do you find your affinities"

"Well the common method is by the use of chakra paper taken from trees grown with chakra "said Tatsuki" but I don't have them here it is usually with jounins or sold at weapon shops

"Crap, i am late, see you Tatsuki Baa Chan "said Naruto and created a dozen shadow clone who all started studying the prearranged books

"You're late Naruto!!" Sakura exclaimed

"I would think that since Kakashi-sensei isn't here on time, you wouldn't be late since your sensei is late." Naruto answered back with a fake grin and a shrug.

"We must follow orders even if sensei is not here, Naruto Baka" shot back Sakura.

"_I am gonna hate this part _"thought Naruto and said "I will never be late if you go on a date with me Sakura Chan "while on the inside he wanted to gag

Sakura gave him a swift punch on the head and yelled "BAKA, don't talk rubbish, my heart belongs to Sasuke-Kun"while inner Sakura was agreeing with her.

Meanwhile Sasuke was ignoring both of his team mates antics and thought about how he was going to get stronger if his sensei was so late.

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After completing today's D classed mission involving tora and a few grocericies where Naruto's Kage Bunshin was most helpful, they made their way to the Hokage tower to report their mission success.

At the Hokage Tower,

"Mission completed Hokage Sama "said Kakashi while never taking his eyes from his book

"Well done then another mission completed, will that be all today Kakashi "asked Sarutobi

"Yes, it is getting late, might as well go home "said Kakashi in a bored tone

"Well then shoo, off you go, Naruto stay behind please"askes Sandaime Sama

Naruto lagged behind the others and after they left dropped the stupid grin from his face.

"Man it is harder to act dumb than I thought "said a sarcastic Naruto

"Well you are the one who insist on putting your mask on the first place "bit back Sandaime Sama

"True but I will only let down the mask at an opportune moment when I have a chance to leave the team" grumbled Naruto

"well don't tell anyone I said this, the Chunnin Exams are coming to Konoha to be conducted here and I am sure Kakashi will enter the team to show case Sasuke Uchiha, if you can convince the Exam judges or the daimyo himself then you can be promoted to Chunnin and I can rearrange the team from then afterwards "said Sarutobi

"but you need to show them that you are exactly Chunnin material, first time Gennins are very rarely promoted "continued Sarutobi

"What do I need to show them exactly "asked Naruto

Blowing out a smoke ring from his pipe Sarutobi answered "You need to show them that you have what it takes to think in stressful situations and show tactics on the battle field, which should come to you if the wave reports are true and then you must show them you are strong"

"I have started training and also started wearing weights to improve my speed and Tatsuki Baa Chan had already gave me the books to study for strategy history etc"

"HE HE "chuckled Sarutobi and muttered "so she cares after all"

"Anyway JiJi, I nearly forgot do you have one of those chakra papers that Tatsuki Baa Chan told me about "pleaded Naruto

"so already going to start your elemental training are you" asked Sarutobi as he heaved himself from his chair and began rummaging his shelves.

"Well it is hard to start to learn all 5 elements so I thought I give it an early start "said Naruto with a non committal shrug

"AHA"exclaimed Sarutobi "here it is, now Naruto send chakra to this paper please "as he extended a yellow piece of paper

"If you have fire it burns to ash, if it is water it will dampen, lightening crinkles and wind cuts it and earth will crumble the paper" explained Sarutobi

Naruto sent a burst of chakra and found the paper first to slice it in half and then dampen suddenly and he asked in amazement "What happened JiJi"

Sarutobi scratched his chin thoughtfully and replies "it means you have wind as your primary element and water as your secondary that means you will have a hard time controlling lightening since wind and lightening are polar opposites"

"Don't worry JiJi I will master it in no time "said Naruto as he headed outside the door

Sarutobi waved him outside and thought"_hmm, well he already seems to be well on his way to master tree climbing and already grasped the basics of water walking, no matter what he says he need a good teacher to exploit his potential, I cant order another sensei for him otherwise it might be seen as favoritism, maybe it is time I called upon Jirayia he can start training him after the finals of the Chunnin exams"_ and nodding thoughtfully ringed for his secretary

"Yes sir "asked his secretary

"get me the best hunter nin we have and I want him here in 30 minutes "commanded Sarutobi while sitting on his chair heavily and creating a dozen shadow clones to do the paper work and taking out a orange bound book and started giggling perversely

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SIX MONTHS LATER:

Naruto walked toward his training ground to get in some training in. Something must have been up if Kakashi had let them go so early. He wasn't going to waste it by doing nothing. Besides, he was making some progress on his techniques. he already has a good Chunnin chakra control and mastered the basics of all the elements, wind was the easiest of them all and managed to master 4 techniques and already started inventing his own wind technique and water and fire was the second easiest and he learned 3 techniques from each of these two elements he managed to learn 2 lightening techniques and he only mastered only 1 earth technique and has mastered all types of shunshin which he managed to get from Tatsuki and was even working on to incorporate his wind element into the wind shunshin and already on his intermediate level in kenpo training after another visit to kurosaki weopon shop on which the Ishinn recommended he learn kenjutsu and even gave him a training manual he ws still learning the basics for that. They would be good in a clinch and a big surprise for his opponents. As he walked toward his training grounds, he felt something was following him. He spun around and saw a rectangular box that was suppose to be a rock. It even had eye holes in it. Naruto sighed at placed his foot of the box.

"You three are pathetic. Where have you three heard of a rock with angles? Come out of there." Naruto ordered. In a flash of smoke, three kids popped out while coughing. After there fit they went into their little introduction. Naruto had to smile at his friends, Konohamaru, Moegi and Udon. Konohamaru had introduced the two who took an instant liking to Naruto. After the introduction the three scarf wearing ninjas in training stood in front of him. "So, why are you guys here?"

"You promised to play ninja with us, remember?" Konohamaru said. Their game of ninja was actually training that Naruto had made into a game. He would give them a situation to solve together and they tried to do them. Most of them were pranks. Truth was he felt that he needed a break. He could train later on.

"Yeah, I remember agreeing to that. Let me see what we could do today." Naruto said. They cheered and waited for their mission but someone made their presence known.

"What type of ninja 'plays' ninja?" mocked Sakura. Naruto noticed that she had an angry expression and sighed. She probably got turned down by Sasuke again.

"Sorry if that sounds childish to you but some times I like to act like a kid. So if you don't mind, I would like to 'play' ninja with my friends." Naruto said sarcastically

"Shut up Baka!! Don't you dare talk down to me! That's why you were the dead last." Sakura screamed with tears in her eyes, she was very confused she can always predict Naruto, whether if it means asking her for dates or simply exclaiming he was going to be Hokage but during these six months she noticed he started changing a little, he still had his signature orange jumpsuit but he started distancing himself from his team and was always off on his own, he even stopped pestering Kakashi sensei to teach him something, all in all she feels that he was slipping away from them but buried that thought thinking that it is a good thing now that she will be free to court her Sasuke kun with no interruption.

Naruto just dug in his ear after the loud voice he heard and ignored her.

Konohamaru seeing the antics between those two and asked"Hey Boss, is she your" holding out his pinky indicating a girlfriend"

Naruto started laughing hysterically and said in a chocked voice"No, she is just a team mate, nothing more"

After hearing this, Sakura felt a pang in her heart and did not even know why and started hanging her head

Konohamaru thought a reverse psychology was needed and said "I thought so Boss who will ever date a flat chest"

Sakura hearing this let out a howl of anger and started chasing the three kids, Naruto just followed at a leisure pace.

. The three ran ahead of him in order to escape. Seconds later, Naruto heard Konohamaru shout. He rounded the corner and saw two teenagers standing in front of his friends. The one dressed in pajamas held Konohamaru in the air and prepared to punch him and Sakura standing a little way to the right keeping Moegi and Udon behind her and asked the mysterious ninjas to let the boy go.

"Hey make-up boy," Naruto shouted to announce himself. "I wouldn't do that if I was you." The teen turned to Naruto. He gave him a grin.

"Another bug to step on, why don't you tell why I shouldn't?" he asked. Naruto returned his grin.

"You mean the obvious reason? That's my friend. Attacking a man's friend within his own village, I'll slit your throat and bury you in forest where they won't find your body for years." Naruto said and leaked a little killer intent that he learned from the Tatsuki on how to generate it" and besides that is the Sandaime's grandson you are holding, you don't want a war do you".

The seriousness of Naruto's words scared even Konohamaru. The teen didn't like the tone that Naruto was using and prepared to make him pay. He dropped Konohamaru hastily on an angry glare from the woman beside him and reached for the bundle on his back. Naruto reacted by slipping the hidden kunai in his sleeve. The two glared at each other and was about to make their move but a voice stopped them.

"Kankuro, that's enough. If you don't stop now, I'll bury you in the forest myself." Everyone turned to see Sasuke and behind him a red haired boy that was hanging upside down. Naruto locked eyes with the boy and the two stared each other down. Konohamaru watched as Naruto had his kunai drawn and was moving to protect him and his friends. Naruto hadn't felt such fear since Zabuza.

'_What's with this guy? His eyes, there's nothing but hate and death in them.'_ Naruto thought

'_He has bravery for facing Kankuro like that. He's foolish to be staring me down like that. Yet, he does not interest me.'_ Gaara thought. Gaara Shunshined next to his siblings and stared at Naruto. Sasuke jumped off his branch too and faced off against the three.

"G-Gaara, it isn't my fault. That kid," Kankuro explained

"Shut up. Have you forgotten why we are here?" Gaara growled

"No, sorry Gaara." Naruto watched carefully as the two older teen were shivering in the presence of the red head. It was as if they were afraid of him. He watched as Sasuke introduced himself to the trio. Naruto decided not to say anything and watched them leave. Sasuke in turn had left as well, a small smirk on his face. Naruto let out a sigh of relief before turning his attention back to Konohamaru and his friends.

"Sorry guys but it looks like we won't be able to play today, maybe later." They whined about it but they later agreed. Naruto turned around and bounded off to his training ground. He had work to do.

It would seem the Chunnin Exams are here.

NOTE:

Don't worry about the technique he learned he will show them later on

Reviews are accepted

And please if any of you know a good Japanese name for a sword it would be helpful as i am thinking it would be best for naruto to learn kenjutsu


	5. Chapter 5

Naruto talking – "hello"

Demon and summon talking and jutsu names- "**hello"**

Naruto thinking –"_what the heck"_

Demon and summon thinking –**_"what the heck"_** ****

Chapter 5:

After the forest of death,

At the tower

Naruto was pissed at both of his team mates, first at start of the exam, his oh so arrogant teammate instead of coming quietly to the exam had to pick a fight with a weird spandex wearing boy who had no trouble beating him, then at his sensei for not even teaching him any information gathering skills which freaked him out making them give him a death glare thinking of his poor grades. Oh yes he was pissed and then there is the freaky snake guy at the forest.

FLASHBACK:

The journey to the forest was not going well, first he has been outvoted in his idea to go near the tower since it is the logical choice but no we always have to listen to Sasuke thinking that we can take out experienced teams who will be at full strength here rather at half dead when they reach the tower, oh yes, he was not happy and then there was that rain nin who sneaked up on him Sasuke did not seem happy with him when he beat the guy and sent his teammates scurrying after acquiring the heaven scroll.

Suddenly a loud voice yelled "**Futon: Great Wind Breakthrough**"

Naruto stood up as the wind that carried him died. It couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes before they got attacked again. After they left the scene, they had a short meeting. Sasuke had a great idea of setting up a password incase some transformed into any of them. However, the password was ridiculously long and complicated. He guessed that if someone took his form and actually remembered it they would know it wasn't him.

Despite the jab at his intelligence, he accepted it and they got ready to move. That's when this strange wind came out of no where. He used his chakra to stick to the ground to avoid getting blown away. Who ever was their opponent must have known because the wind got stronger and blew Naruto away, branch included.

Naruto tried to get a better look around and jumped into the air. He landed upside down on a branch and saw what had almost caught him. It was a snake, a very huge snake.

'What the hell, do snakes grow that big?' muttered Naruto

"_There is something wrong with this. Anacondas are known to grow about seventy feet. This snake looks about one-hundred feet. Also, it looked as if the snake was seeking him out. There is hardly any dirt on its belly. Only summons follow like this based on their masters orders but according to Tatsuki Baa Chan there are only two snake summoners, the crazy Procter Anko and………,NO he had to get to his teammates_" thought Naruto nodded and stood up. The snake lunged at him just as Naruto did some hand seals.

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Sasuke and Sakura were breathing very hard. After that wind, the two were confronted by a Grass female ninja. She had challenged them to a fight; winner took the other's scroll. Sasuke was game until the woman released a large and deadly intent to kill. It froze him and Sakura in their tracks as visions of deaths. Sasuke managed to escape by stabbing himself. He grabbed Sakura and ran away. The two continued to run until they were sure that the woman couldn't follow.

"W-What was that? What in Kami's name was that?" Sakura asked, scared out of her mind.

"I don't know. We should find Naruto and get away from here." Sasuke replied

"Now, now, that won't do. Besides, your little comrade will not be coming to help so you will have to play with me." They turned to see the woman on a huge snake. The snake tried to eat the two young Gennin. Sasuke threw several shurikens with incredible strength. The shurikens impaled the snake in the head, causing the snake to disappear. The Grass ninja was impress and charged at Sasuke. Suddenly, two kunai came at her from her left. She saw that the two kunai were attached to two explosive notes. The woman jumped back to avoid the explosion.

"I leave you guys alone for fifteen minutes and you're getting your asses kicked." Everyone turned to see Naruto standing on a branch. He looked all right expect for the dirt that he was covered in.

"Well, you survived against my snake Naruto-kun." The woman purred. Naruto looked at this woman with a hard expression.

"Hey, you want our scroll right?" Sasuke asked as he pulled out the team's heaven scroll. Naruto would have said something but he knew that they had an extra heaven scroll. Sasuke tossed the scroll to the woman and she caught it. She suddenly gave them a smile.

"Thank you but do you believe that I'm stupid. Why doesn't your teammate give me the other heaven scroll that you acquired?" she said, shocking them all.

"And why do you need a scroll when you don't even need unless you wish to forfeit your title as a Sannin grass lady or SHOULD I say Orichimaru the Snake Sannin!" Naruto said socking his teammates again with Sasuke and Sakura eyes widen in fear and they got into a Defense stance prepared to flee with his teammates at a moments notice.

"well done Naruto-kun you really figured it out" simpered the voice suddenly changing to a male tone and then the ninja ripped the skin from his face and to the horror of Naruto and his teammates saw the pale face of Konoha's number one enemy and traitor.

"But might I ask how you found out "continued Orichimaru in a rasping tone

"Look underneath the underneath, there are only two summoners of the snake contract ever recorded in history the proctor Anko and the Snake Sannin himself" Naruto explained. The traitor laughed at what he said.

"Very good Naruto, you've figured it out. I could have just killed them from the beginning".He said

"So you do have an objective seeing as you infiltrated Konoha and the Chunnin exams you are here for a Gennin and seeing as you targeted my team and blasted me away with a wind attack I will say your interest is in Sasuke more than Sakura seeing as you were egging him to fight you, What is it, why do you want Sasuke?" Naruto asked

"Now, I am impressed, how is it can you do it when sources tell me you were an idiot who was an excuse for a Shinobi but I find things different here, no matter" she disappeared. Naruto eyes went wide before he was stabbed in the back by a kunai. To her surprise, Naruto disappeared in puff of smoke and looked at Sasuke and Sakura, and saw Naruto there with two shadow clones carrying his teammates and running.

Naruto was terrified, he had heard stories of the snake Sannin and wondered what his objective was, he had removed his chakra from his weights and was just thinking of removing his weights in his clothes which he had sewn during his second month of training to increase his upper body strength for Kenjutsu practice, but he knew he was no match for a Sannin in this state.

Suddenly he was bowelled over and was kicked aside and saw Orichimaru bite his teammates neck and left a strange seal on him and said" there Sasuke will come to me for more power and Naruto kun you really are a fast one aren't you I nearly had to make a effort, perhaps I should keep an eye out for you "and dissolved into mud

"_DAMN IT _"thought Naruto as his vision was turning blurry and then turned black as he finally lost consciousness due to the kick and thought he heard a female scream his name.

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It would be the sun that Naruto opened his eyes to. Everything was blurry at first but it was quickly coming into focus and saw sakura tending to Sasuke and asked "how is he"

"Naruto, you are awake, Sasuke-kun is running a high fever and he thrashes in his sleep indicating nightmares otherwise he is fine" replied sakura.

Naruto got up from his makeshift bed and examined the seal on Sasuke's shoulder and thought _"what the hell is this seal it is so complex all I can recognize is the draining seal and the conversion seal but it emits an evil presence, I needs to speak to Kakashi sensei or jiji about this, I doubt that snake freak gave this with the kindness of his heart_".

He then checked for his scroll but finding it missing he sweared in his head and turning to sakura and said" sakura it would seem that we are out of scrolls, form a defense perimeter around here and I will check for scroll from the other teams"

"Okay Naruto, but be careful" replied Sakura wearily and began to wonder what happened, she was terrified back when facing the grass ninja and saw first hand how Naruto guessed but the Naruto she knew would never do things like that, it would seem she did not know Naruto like she thought she did and saw how strong he was in defeating those rain nins, she thought she was stronger than Naruto seeing he was the dead last but she was wrong, she realized both her teammates are years ahead of her and she resolved silently that she will be as strong as her teammates and stop living in their shadows. What she failed to sense was the presence of three Shinobi who was outside their clearing.

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Naruto was hunting for scrolls and saw the three rain nins again sitting on a branch and quietly sneaked to their backs and wordlessly creating two Kage Bunshin he pounced on them and tied them up and retrieved a heaven scroll, and thought to head back since he had a bad feeling and when he saw the clearing he left he was shocked to see there was some fighting and the green spandex guy was on the ground and Sakura's hair was cut short. Seeing this he jumped into the clearing.

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Everyone was shocked when Naruto suddenly appeared. He looked at the scene and was greatly disgusted by it. His friends were injured and were also out of it. He didn't know the guy with Hinata's eyes but they did matter right now. He turned to the three Sound ninjas.

"I'm giving just one chance to leave." He ordered

"Who the hell are you?" Zaku shouted.

"Your chance just passed." Naruto charged at them, ignoring them. Everyone was surprised at how fast he was moving. Zaku smirked and shot his hands forward.

"Decapitating Air Waves!" he shouted. Naruto disappeared before he was hit with the attack. He reappeared to his left and continued is charge. Kin threw some senbon needles at him but Naruto did some seals.

"Suiton– Water Wall!" Naruto spat out some water and protected himself. The needles did not penetrate the water wall but it did not stop Zaku's Decapitating Air Waves. It blasted a hole through the wall but Naruto was not there. Instead, he appeared behind Kin. Dosu threw his melody arm at Naruto's head. He moved out of the way and jumped a few feet back to avoid the sound waves of Dosu's attack. He pulled out two kunai and threw them at Kin and Dosu. Zaku backed them up and thrust both hands and used his attack. It stopped the kunai and hit Naruto. He slammed into the tree only to disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Doton– Earth Dragon Bombing!" The team turned to see several mud balls coming at them. They dodged to avoid it. Kin landed and looked around. Naruto appeared and grabbed her wrist. Causing her to stumble, he nailed her with and elbow to her nose. Blood spurt out but she had no time to think of it as Naruto hit her with three strikes, a knee, an elbow and finally a spinning back fist. She hit the ground not moving. Zaku growled and gathered a large amount of chakra and air into the vents in his arm. He thrust his hands forward again.

"Extreme Decapitating Air Waves!!!" he shouted. Everything it path was instantly blown away. Everyone held on to something or ducked under something. When the dust cleared, Naruto was not where to be found. Zaku smiled at his victory but it was short lived. Naruto jumped down right in front of him. He stabbed his two fingers right onto Zaku's shoulder.

"Raiton– White Lightning Strike!!!" A white streak of lightning blasted through Zaku's shoulder. Discharge of lightning crackled off Naruto's finger tips as Zaku hit the ground wallowing in pain. Naruto didn't allow Zaku to get up and stomped on the injured shoulder. Zaku screamed again but Naruto ignored it and did some hand seals. He pointed his fingers at the female member of the team. He turned to Dosu and caught his attention. "Ok, let's set the record straight. I'm pissed off and not in the best of moods. However I'm not a vicious person so let's work a deal out. You need these two to pass, I need a scroll. You get the picture?" Dosu couldn't believe what had just happened. A few minutes ago, he and his squad owned this weak Leaf Shinobi. Now, in the span of one minute, this Leaf ninja had wiped out both his teammates. He growled but he complied. He pulled out their scroll and it happened to be an earth scroll.

Naruto stopped his attack and created three shadow clones. One picked up Kin, another dragged Zaku and the last walked with the two. The two holding their hostages had kunais to their jugulars just in case. The empty Naruto took the scroll and jumped back to the original. The other two release Dosu's teammates. Dosu picked them up and left the clearing.

He took a deep breath and pocketed the scroll. He turned and saw tenten who waved at him and the unknown Hyuuga who ignored everyone and pick up his teammates and also left the clearing. Ignoring team 10, He turned to his teammate and asked how she was. Before she could reply a evil chakra exploded from the clearing and everyone turned to Sasuke covered in purple tattoos and said in a dark and slightly insane voice" yes this is the power I have been searching for, as long as I have power I will even sell my soul to the devil"

Then turning to team 10 he said to the terrified Gennin "FIGHT ME I want to test this new power "and took an offensive stance

Naruto however wanting to put a stop to this and said in a firm voice "that is enough Sasuke, they are our allies and we do not fight our ally, whatever that snake freak did to you is affecting you, now calm down and let us figure this out,"

"Shut up dobe, you have grown stronger dobe I will test myself against you and be one step closer further in killing HIM "and attacked Naruto.

Naruto sighed and simply stood there when Sasuke got close enough he simply side stepped and gave him a swift chop to the neck.

Telling team 10 that they will meet in the tower he and Sakura started heading to the tower and got into them only to find out it is empty from the meeting point.

END FLASHBACK:

While he was thinking Sasuke was still unconscious seeing that after Kakashi saw the seal he will be alright and Sakura was looking at a wall scroll and said "I think we need to open the scroll these passage has the missing words as the name of our scrolls .

Naruto just grunted and he and Sakura opened the scroll on the count of three and from the resulting smoke they saw……………IRUKA

"Iruka sensei "yelled both Naruto and Sakura.

After Iruka explained the meaning of the scroll and told them that they are the 5th team to come in after 2 days in the forest of death and after hearing their stories quickly got up to leave and bring Kakashi

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Kakashi walked through the tower in deep thought. Things just didn't look good when it concerned his team. Between Naruto's new attitude and Sasuke getting the curse mark, he was just very tired. Luckily Sasuke survived the process but the mark was active. He used the Evil Sealing method to suppress the mark. It all depended on Sasuke's will, which was a huge stretch but he believed in Sasuke. Leaving the Sasuke situation for a while, he went to his second objective; finding Naruto.

He wanted to speak with his blond student and try to curb his attitude. It was getting very annoying about his lone wolf motto and he wanted to deal with it right now. He didn't find him in team seven's room. He ran into Ino and Chouji, who looked quite upset and were searching for their missing teammate Shikamaru Nara and saw Asuma a fellow Jounin and team 10 Jounin instructor who told him that Naruto was with Shikamaru in the cafeteria. As he neared the cafeteria, he heard Naruto's voice.

"So, you don't like your team? You were happy in the beginning, mostly because you were with Sakura." Asked Shika while thoughtfully moving a shougi piece. Kakashi stopped and hid his chakra. He leaned against wall to listen.

"I guess the C-rank mission that turned into an A-rank mission made me sit back take a look at how things were." Naruto said placing a check

"And what did you see?" Shikamaru asked counteracting his check

"That I'll never reach my full potential with these people." Naruto stated moving a piece

"Your full potential? You've got to explain that one." Shikamaru said effectively taking a pawn that got to close to the king

"I thought what I showed my potential in the forest." He said

"That's true, didn't expect you to know two c-rank Justus. Did your sensei teach you?" asked Shikamaru

"Sensei, that's a joke?" Naruto scoffed. Kakashi didn't like his tone.

"Is that why you still wear that stupid smile on your face, troublesome." he said

"You and JiJi are the same you know that heck even you are not supposed to see past it "said Naruto. Shikamaru nodded in agreement and said "I didn't but I did not ignore your pranks and the skills behind them nor can I fault you because of the attitude of the academy teachers, expected they treat you because of your furry problem" and placing a check

"Ah, thought you will figure it out, there is perhaps truth to the rumors that you were the smartest Nara to grace the clan in a century, how did you find out "said Naruto in a surprisingly calm tone and effectively taking the offending rook.

"Troublesome, the attitude towards you, their words that call you as demon and your age coincide with the furry problem, it was easy once you think about it, as for what I think, I am seriously thinking what Konoha hold if it has this much prejudice against you, I am kinda pissed they treat one of my friends like that "said Shikamaru while his hands were shaking as he moved the queen

Naruto smiled at this and said "thank you Shikamaru"

"So what are you going to do about your teammates, everyone started to notice how you were a little different "asked Shikamaru

"That is just the prelude, I am going to drop my mask at the finals and then maybe made into a Chunnin and hopefully get off my team" replied Naruto as he made his move

"Is that so, what did Kakashi do to you to get this pissed off, seeing that Sasuke must have given you his lone avenger attitude and Sakura her fangirl words which you are familiar with, you must have gotten tired with you sensei if logic proves right "asked Shikamaru ass he contemplated his next move

"how correct you are Shikamaru, Kakashi is always going on about my chakra control and how I should work on that. He concentrates all his efforts on Sasuke and sometimes Sakura yet he doesn't even show me any respect and belittles me." Naruto said

"Are you sure you're not just pissed because you feel left out" Shikamaru asked, moving his knight to cut the king's path

"At first, yeah but then I realized that his lack of training was going to get me killed. If I hadn't taken my training seriously, I would have died in that forest, do you know that in the eight months I was in his team he only trained me in tree climbing" retorted Naruto, as he destroyed Shikamaru's knight with his queen.

"What even my lazy ass sensei taught all three of us more than that ,I can now see why you to leave your team, troublesome " Shikamaru said in a suffering way as he recalled his own training with a wince and checkmated Naruto, they called it a day and left to their respective teams, they did not see Kakashi leaning against the shadows or a bug which flew from under the table to the hand of Aburame Shino who frowned at the information given by the insect.

Kakashi decided to leave his student alone. What he had said had clearly made him hang his head. He just wanted Naruto to be prepared and knew that his chakra control was the worst of the group. He did notice that he had gotten better but he didn't want him to slack off and tried to refute what he said about teaching him but nothing came to his mind, he remembered with a wince how Naruto has time and time again asked to be trained with something other than his chakra control, but he had carelessly brushed him off and trained Sasuke.

He was also deeply mortified of the threat of Naruto leaving his team" _Sensei, have I failed you, I am sorry Naruto, I will train you to be great ninja like you dreamed, but first it seems I have to earn his trust"_.

Naruto stood with the other finalists. The second part of the Chunnin Exam was over. Naruto looked around and saw that all of the rookies made it through. Kabuto's team had made it as did the Sand team. The Sound team was a surprise seeing that one of them was greatly injured. All three of them glared at him but he ignored them. He turned toward Sasuke. The guy looked pale but otherwise fine. He heard Sakura pleading with him to quit the exams though for which Sasuke was vehemently protesting and muttered to him that he wanted to face him, but he just ignored him, he already learned from Tatsuki Baa Chan how the sharingan works and had already started to train against it both from copying his abilities and its hypnotic ability.

The old man went into a speech about war and battle. He was standing with the crazy exam Procter Anko and a sickly Jounin named Gekko Hayate along with the Clan Heads. After that, Hayate stood in front of the finalist. He informed them that there will be preliminaries. He asked if anyone wished to withdraw. Kabuto raised his hand and asked to withdraw. Naruto didn't understand why he did. He didn't look injured at all. He shrugged it off and waited for more instructions soon a big in the big TV names have started to roll for the first match

The Chunnin preliminaries has began


	6. Chapter 6

Naruto talking – "hello"

Demon and summon talking and Jutsu name- "**hello"**

Naruto thinking –"_what the heck"_

Demon and summon thinking –_**"what the heck"**_

Chapter 6:

Naruto began to shiver with anticipation, like so many others while some shivered in trepidation, when the scoreboard that would decide the matches began to roll through the big tv hanging overhead.

SASUKE UCHIHA

Vs.

AKADO YOROI

Hayate coughed "The first fight is between Akado Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke… are the contestants ready?" when both indicated that they were, Hayate cleared his throat and said "Well then, we'll begin the first match shortly so would everyone except the two participants move to the upper level…"

As everyone began to walk towards the stairs Kakashi brushed behind Sasuke and whispered. "Sasuke, remember… even though it is sealed, it is your own will that partially keeps Orochimaru's curse in check. And if you activate that curse… the match will be instantly stopped and you will be placed under ANBU guard." This caused Sasuke to falter. They were again trying to limit his growth but still, he didn't want to be removed from the contest until he had the chance to prove himself that he had gotten stronger

Smirking confidently he took a loose ready stance and faced his opponent.

Up in the stands everyone had settled down to watch the match. Sakura was rather worried about her 'Sasuke-kun' who had been colder than usual after their encounter with Orichimaru. He'd been almost hostile when she'd tried to talk with him, she was so confused. She believed in Sasuke but on the other hand the look of concern on Kakashi-sensei's face when Naruto had told about the incident had been noticeable, even with the mask. And then there was the seal that was… _-Why am I doubting Sasuke-kun, he's one of us that have the best chance of becoming a Chunnin isn't he. Not even Naruto can compete with him… can he?-_She shoved the doubt aside and began to cheer as Sasuke delivered the first blow.

Down in the arena,

Sasuke though he was doing rather well, he'd cornered Yoroi using his superior speed to deflect several shuriken thrown at him and then ran in and grappled with him. Only to have Yoroi start draining his chakra reserves with some weird technique. Kicking him off to make some distance Sasuke began to formulate a plan… good thing he had been able to copy Lee Taijutsu when they had their fight before the first exam. Flashing through several hand seals he performed and yelled "**Katon: Phoenix flower technique**" and tossed in a few shurikens while blowing the small balls of flame towards Yoroi. Using the opportunity to attack the now distracted man he quickly ducked under his guard and sent him flying with a swift kick to the chin. He then pushed himself up into air and under Yoroi's shadow and delivered a swift spin kick that Yoroi was able to block. Undaunted he spun again and this time punched Yoroi and then punched him again launching the Gennin towards the floor below. Just as they were about to land Sasuke delivered a final spin kick and yelled out the name of 'his' new attack "Shishi Rendan!" (Lion combo)

Blood spurted from Yoroi's mouth as Sasuke stood up and dusted himself off and turned to flash a satisfied smirk towards Naruto who promptly ignored him thinking along the lines _"if Sasuke has anymore ego of stealing techniques from ally without their permission then would he even have allies" _and saw Kakashi from the corner of his eye and was pleasantly surprised that he looked a little pissed and some of the clan heads were not looking too happy either.

Meanwhile down at the arena,

Sasuke smirked again when he heard Hayate declare him as the winner of the first match and the first one to pass the prelims. Feeling satisfied he headed towards the stairs to watch the rest of the matches.

At the stands,

Lee was having similar thoughts from Naruto. He felt himself somehow slighted, not because Sasuke had copied the initial stage of his technique but because the way he'd done it and thought

"_Uchiha Sasuke your Sharingan is truly fearsome but the way you use it is an affront to those who work hard. To copy your enemy's techniques is one thing, to spy on your comrades is another"_

The scoreboard started spinning again and it read

ZAKU ABUMI

Vs

ABURAME SHINO

Naruto watched as Shino made his way down the stairs towards the arena and pondered the mystery that was this silent boy. Shino was the second person on his own age group that knew about the Kyubbi seeing as he had confronted him after telling him of the bug. Naruto sighed as he remembered all that the bug user had said to him that he did not blame him any other way for his problem and that Kiba only knew of his the other information that was talked which Kiba had overhead when Shino talked to Kurenai sensei about them and she seems none too pleased to hear it either

Down on the arena Shino had already began his match with Zaku and had managed to corner him with a swarm of Kikai bugs and forced Zaku to uncover his second arm. Shino's expression didn't change when Zaku's other arm blew off and the other was torn apart when he tried to use his 'Zankuuha' (Decapitating Air Wave) to blow away the bugs and Shino. When the boy was declared winner and made his way up to the stands Naruto could only gape at what he surmised was the most collected person he'd ever seen. He even shivered slightly at the thought of being surrounded by a large swarm of chakra eating bugs but was reassured by his chakra reserves provided by his and the foxes pool and was certain that the bugs would stand no chance against their him by draining him. While Shino was making his way up to the stands he saw his father nod at him seeing this is the way for him to congratulate Shino,he nodded back and was standing behind his team again silently.

The scoreboard started spinning again and it read

SABAKUU KANKURO  
VS.

TSURUGI MISUMI

The next match was called

The match seemed to end before it even got properly started when the stretchy Leaf Gennin broke Kankuro's neck… 'Kankuro' in response turned his head completely around and was revealed to be a puppet that proceeded to squeeze the consciousness out of other contestant. After being declared winner he collected his puppet Karasu and joined the rest of his team on the balcony and started bragging to his sensei Baki who promptly ignored him

The scoreboard started spinning again and it read

YAMANAKA INO  
VS

HARUNO SAKURA

Naruto's hopes of getting to fight on the next round were dashed when the scoreboard announced the next match up. He raised an eyebrow when he read the names of Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino on the board. _-Two of the scariest girls I know… I wonder if Sakura is able to win against Ino.-_ The girls in question were descending the stairs together all the while staring lightning bolts at each other. The fight was a long one, they exchanged blow for blow, insult for insult until finally Ino caught Sakura with her 'Shintenshin no Jutsu' (Mind Body Switch technique) only to be foiled by the raging 'inner Sakura' who, because of Sakura's recent need to get stronger, reared 'her' very scary head and forced Ino, to everyone's amazement, out from Sakura's mind. By now both Sakura and Ino were exhausted and both decided to make a last ditch attempt to beat the other down… they both succeeded in quite a dramatic double KO. Which caused Ino's father Yamanaka Inochi in the stands to hit his head with his hand and started to shake his head at the stupidity of this charade while his friends were snickering to the sides.

The scoreboard started spinning again and it read

SABUKUU TEMARI

VS

KUROSAKI TENTEN

While Naruto was contemplating who would win since he had guessed that Temari is a wind user, Lee was pumping his fists in the air cheering wildly at TenTen who was matched up against Temari. Despite the sheer volume of both cheers and throwing weapons summoned, TenTen was losing badly against the blonde kunochi from Sunagakure. After a spectacular shower of sharp projectiles got yet again deflected Temari seemed simply to vanish only to reappear and create a miniature tornado that trapped poor TenTen in it. The fight ended when Temari 'caught' the falling girl with her folded fan making her back arch into an unhealthy angle.

After she was declared winner Temari threw TenTen towards to a wall only to have her caught by Lee who'd jumped to grab his fallen teammate. Temari's tough girl exterior crumbled slightly when she looked at Naruto, who was staring at her with those damnable cold eyes which seemed to freeze one soul, she shivered slightly at this and went back to the stands.

The scoreboard started spinning again and it read

NARA SHIKAMARU

VS.

KIN TSUCHI

Shrugging to himself Hayate announced the next match. "Will Nara Shikamaru and Kin Tsuchi please step down so that we can begin the 6th match." Naruto yawned as he watched Shikamaru and the Sound girl make their way down to the arena, he was quite frankly bored since he knew that Shikamaru will win, Naruto didn't really care anymore, and saw Shikamaru used his 'Kagemane no Jutsu' (Shadow Bind Technique) and knocked Kin out by smashing her head to the wall. Nara Shikaku was smirking at his son at how he muttered trouble some after the match that he was fighting a girl.

The scoreboard started spinning again and it read

UZUMAKI NARUTO  
VS

INUZUKA KIBA

It was his turn to fight and Naruto thought "_Yosh! Finally it's my turn to fight… hmm I'll be facing Kiba, this might get interesting, I wonder if I should remove my weights or not, maybe, will see_."

Shino watched as Kiba cheered when it was his turned and was even happier that he would be facing Naruto. Shino sighed at his teammate's ignorance.

"Kiba, you should be taking this fight seriously. Naruto is much more than what seems." He said

"You worry too much. Besides, it's the dead-last. I probably won't even need Akamaru for this." Kiba said. He jumped down to the ground with Akamaru following him. Shino sighed and just decided to watch and see what Naruto would do.

With the Jounin,

Kurenai said "it seems your student is pitted against my student Kakashi, I can tell you this Kiba has grown a lot stronger from the academy and Naruto has no chance in defeating him, you might well tell him to forfeit this match"with a knowing smirk and thought _"serves you well Kakashi, you are a disgrace to be a sensei by ignoring his training, he would never have advanced, I am sorry Naruto, but my student comes first and I cant help but gloat about it"_

Kakashi did not say anything to this and was only blaming himself for not training Naruto when he had time and only hoped that he had trained himself well for this.

When Naruto got down to the arena Kiba was already waiting, and positively brimming with confidence. His gloating comment of "Lucky aren't we Akamaru… with that loser as our opponent it's like we've already won." was met with a slightly hesitant bark from Akamaru, who could actually smelled the amount of Naruto's chakra and was making him nervous

Despite of his pet's lack of enthusiasm Kiba continued gloating over his easy victory only to be interrupted by the now fuming Naruto "Shut the hell up! And don't bring that puppy of yours to the fight… he'll just get in the way."

Now it was Kiba's turn to fume. "You idiot Akamaru is going to fight with me, he's a fully trained Ninja animal after all." This comment only made Naruto to smile, then point an accusing finger at Kiba "Yeah well, a loser like you would need all the help he can get so…"

Kiba was now beyond furious, here was the guy who'd been the laughing stock of the academy, standing before him acting all though. And to add to the incentive to beat him up real bad was the fact that he'd begun to suspect that 'his' Hinata-chan might actually like the dork for real. He ordered Akamaru to stand down and said "Hah, acting all though are you? I'll fight you alone and because I feel bad for you I'll even end it with one hit." His confidence grew with every word until he noticed that Naruto didn't seem to be least bit affected

Naruto bounced on the ball of his feet to get loose. He looked toward Kiba and saw that he was grinning at him. He was clearly underestimating him. He smirked as he knew that Kiba was in for one hell of a surprise.

"_Better not show him too much though, still need to keep the aces in the hole "_thought Naruto.

The two faced off against each other. Naruto watched as Kiba told his dog to stay back and that this wasn't going to take long. Naruto just cracked his knuckles. Hayate signaled the fight to begin and Kiba wasted no time and placed his hands in a seal and whispered "Gijyuu Ninpou, Shikyaku no Jutsu". (Beast Mimicry, Four legs). Naruto watched as Kiba's appearance changed into more feral features. Naruto did hand seals and took a deep breath.

"**Suiton– Water Wall**!" Naruto shouted and spat out a large volume of water. The water rose and surrounded Naruto. Everyone was stunned by what Naruto did. Kiba just smirked and charged at the water. He went straight into the wall and burst out, his elbow thrust out. He was surprised that Naruto blocked the attack easily. He shock wore off when Naruto caught him with a powerful kick to his jaw. Kiba was sent rocketing out the way he came in. The water wall began to fall as Kiba got his bearings. It fell and Naruto was nowhere to be found. A shadow fell over him and he moved just in time to dodge Naruto attack. Naruto pressed Kiba in a Taijutsu bout and landed several blows and ended the attack with a double front kick that flipped Kiba. The Inuzuka landed hard as Naruto bounced on his toes.

Kiba growled and charged. He took a wild swipe at Naruto which he dodged. He tried another one but Naruto blocked it and hit him with a devastating hook to Kiba's mid-section. Kiba's eyes widen at the pain he was feeling and spat out what ever he may have eaten. Naruto didn't stop there and flipped Kiba over his shoulder. The dog user hit the ground hard and winced. He opened his eyes to see Naruto raise his fist to drive it into Kiba's skull. He was lucky that Akamaru decided to interfere and Naruto was forced to jump out of the way. Kiba thanked his friend and gingerly began to stand up. Naruto saw this and got into a fighting stance. And said" well what is this about you fighting me alone" and smirked at Kiba's furious face.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Kenpo, not a bad choice for someone like him." Gai muttered. Lee turned to his sensei.

"You know of this style Gai-sensei?" Lee asked

"Yes I do. It is a very old style and not commonly used any more. The style focuses on strong and quick punches, fluid movements and bone-jarring kicks. Judging by he positioning and movements, he has taught himself this style. He is using the form well though against Kiba even though he taught himself" Gai explained. He looked at Kakashi who kept his eyes on Naruto.

"I can't believe that Naruto is actually winning. When did he even get time to learn those jutsu and that Taijutsu?" Sakura asked and Sasuke was trying to look disinterested but was slightly impressed and jealous that the dobe had grown strong

"Sakura, shut up!" Kakashi said in a harsh tone without turning to her. Sakura gulped and stood down. Kakashi had been acting very weird for the last three days. He was anger prone nowadays and was always thinking about something, he even rarely opened his book and was always glancing towards Naruto She just stayed silent are turned back to the match.

Meanwhile Kakashi thought" _what is this, I know from the conversation that he trained himself but this is unreal, already using an element and a Taijutsu style and my gut instinct tell me that he is not fighting at his full power, how strong are you Naruto" _

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kiba charged at Naruto again and pulled something out from his pockets. Naruto saw it and prepared himself. Kiba threw whatever he had in his hand, which turned out to be smoke bombs. They exploded covering and blinding Naruto's sights. Naruto quickly covered himself up and he knew that he made the right decision. The punches that were meant for his face and stomach were blocked by his forearms. He knew that Akamaru would be waiting for him so he decided to stop Kiba's plan.

Kiba stood at the side and waited for Naruto to come out of the smoke where Akamaru was waiting for him. That's when he heard Naruto's voice.

"**Futon – Gale Wind Palm**!" he shouted. A blast of wind blew the smoke in front of the cloud. Akamaru was pushed back a little. The dog held onto the ground as the wind died down. He looked up to see Naruto coming straight for him and give him an axe kick which sent the dog flying and when Kiba came at him with a furious face he simply slipped into his guard and punched him with very fast strikes faster than the eye can see and yelled **"Chestnut roasting on a open fire" **and leapt back when Kiba slumped down and started coughing up blood, the ones in the stand were beyond shocked at seeing Naruto beating Kiba within an inch of his life when he himself has yet to get hit

Sandaime smirked from beneath his hat and thought _"well Naruto it seems you finally are ready to lose the stupid mask _"gazing upon the shocked faces and smirked again.

"Give up Kiba, you have no chance of beating me "said Naruto with a confident tone

"And why is that you dead last "Growled Kiba trying to breathe.

"Simple really, it has to do with our team arrangements "said Naruto with a knowing smirk

"What the hell does that have do with this "roared Kiba

Meanwhile the Jounin, the Clan Heads and the Hokage were all wondering if he knew the secret of team placements

"It has everything to do with this, let us take team 10 as example they are the second following of the original Ino-Cho-Shika team, based on their abilities there are the Interrogation Squad with the Nara for capturing due to their Kagemane Jutsu and the Yamanaka flair for the interrogation and the Akimichi acting as backup and now your team consist of an Inuzuka, an Aburame and a Hyuuga who's specialties are mainly used for scouting thus your squad is a Scouting\Tracking squad"

And Naruto continued" and here is the real kicker my squad consist of an Uchiha who are all known to be as all rounder Shinobi (Sasuke smirked at this and puffed out his chest) and a kunochi who's strength is shown in chakra control making her as a potential medic nin (Sakura started thinking of what Naruto said and promised to look into it) and a guy who's chakra capacity exceeds most Jounin and can do the most devastating of Justus with no trouble at all, we are the Heavy Tactical and Demolition Squad"

Everyone was shocked by this statement and Hinata asked Kurenai "Is this true sensei" (AN:\Hinata talks in stutter but I do not know how to write like that so please imagine that she talks in stutter\)

"yes "replied Kurenai trying to hide her shocked face on how a Gennin was able to figure it out and slightly unnerved on how he was beating Kiba so easily

"_Wow Naruto kun you have become strong _"thought Hinata with a blush

At the arena,

"And what does this prove "said Kiba through gritted teeth

"You see Kiba, during war time, your squads are not trained for direct combat like what we are doing now but are trained in speed and strategic skills to acquire information, I on the other hand am trained for this type of situation and are trained for direct combat as we usually fight in the front lines making me a better combat fighter of the two of us. Though your training in that field does worry me for my safety"

"WHAT" roared Kiba brandishing his teeth

Naruto smirked at this and thought"_ that right Kiba get angry, anger bring forth irrational behavior, that in turn brings forth mistakes, mistakes tend to openings and openings leave me victory"_

He said "well, your are in an information squad, yet here you are depending on old data which dates back 7 months_,_ olddata that can be dangerous for any ninja worth his salt, either your team is pathetic in data gathering (Kurenai and her remaining two teammates winced at this) or you suck at listening, I think I will go for the latter"

Naruto watched as Kiba and Akamaru got ready again with anger clearly showing in their face. He watched as Kiba gave Akamaru a red pill and he took one himself. He slid into his stance and waited for their attack. Akamaru jumped on Kiba's back and transformed into a copy of Kiba. Both looked very feral, very strong and very pissed.

Naruto took a defensive stance and prepared himself as the two Kiba's attacked. Naruto ducked and jumped back away from the two. He noticed that they were much faster than before as one of Kiba's got behind him. He was now on the defensive as he had a hard time blocking and dodging the two Kiba's attack. That's when he saw the two began to spin. He crossed his fingers and a shadow clone appeared. The clone threw Naruto out of the way just as Kiba called out the attack.

"Fang over Fang!!" Naruto watched as the two became like drills and rip apart his clone.

'_Note to self: Avoid at all cost!'_ Naruto thought. He crossed his fingers again. "**Kage Bunshin**!!" Ten clones appeared this time and charged at the two. The Kibas smirked and ripped right through all the clones with little difficulty. One Kiba charged at Naruto and did the drill move again. Naruto did the hand seal quickly and slammed his palms together. "**Futon– Gale Wind Palm**!" He poured as much chakra in the attack so it would slow down Kiba. That's when he caught the other Kiba coming from his side. He also did the drill move and was going to hit Naruto. He released the Jutsu making the other drill to come at him at a faster pace. Naruto had not time at he was hit by the attack and crashed into the wall.

Kiba seeing this shouted "HA, disgrace to my squad am I, what about you dobe, I will tell you some information, I know for a fact that you never were trained by your Jounin sensei and do you want to know what I feel about that"

Naruto was mainly unharmed just a small cut on his forehead replied calmly"oh, what is it"

Kiba while calm would never have considered saying this but he was filled with anger that the dead last was not a dead last anymore and the fact that Hinata no matter what he did do seem to never return her feelings to him but actually like the idiot, he thought that in this match if he showed her how strong he was Hinata would come running to him, but it seemed not to be true so he was pissed

"Well, I think that your Jounin sensei abandoned you because he would be much better to teach the rookie of the year than to the dead last, hell you are so pathetic that your own parents abandoned you "said Kiba with a cruel smirk

Kakashi on hearing this was horrified and gave a death glare to Kurenai who herself was deeply mortified. Hinata, Sakura were nearly in tears and were furious with anger, Shino didn't show any emotion but the tightness of his wrist showed his anger

Team 10 and Asuma was stony faced and were glaring at Kiba while Team Gai was also furious, this was marked by Neji Hyuuga who did not show any outward reaction except a narrowing of his eyes and Lee and Gai did not even shout anything about youth but started glaring daggers at Kiba while TenTen started fingering her kunai very tightly.

The Clan Heads had all stiffened at the first statement and were downright furious with the second statement and their anger were less compared with Inuzuka Tsumi and her canine partner who were both red in faced and were bristling in anger with Kiba for his insolence, they had always warned him of his arrogance and now he had crossed a very, very thin line. It was a unspoken line, they make not like the boy as the Kyubbi container and may give the occasion word like demon but it always draws the line at that point, there should never be a mention of his parents ever.

During the first statement Sandaime was glaring at Kakashi who was flinching at the glare, but during the second statement everyone who looked in his eyes were terrified and were reminded why he is called as "The GOD of all Shinobi".

The sand siblings did not even react to this though they expressed in the fight and now just narrowed their eyes and Gaara for a brief second felt a tinge of sympathy for the boy to know about loneliness if the look on his eyes earlier was any indication.

They all looked at Naruto whose eyes were hidden behind his hair as he had started growing it during the 7 months.

There he burst into laughter and every one was surprised to see Naruto laughing at this and then spoke in a VERY cold voice that sent shivers down everyone's spine

"Even though I may hate to admit it Kiba but you are right in both accounts "he said making every one flinch at his words especially Kakashi who looked really ashamed of himself

"But that does not mean I will take shit from anyone especially you dog breadth, I was saving it for the finals but you just pissed me off "Naruto continued lifting his head and making everyone freeze.

His normal twinkling blue eyes which rivals the sky were now frigid menacing and now many people felt a sort of déjà vu as he looked as intimidating as the Fourth Hokage given his blonde hair and blue eyes and Minato Namikaze can just about intimidate anyone with nothing but a glance and there was a VERY VERY close resemblance between the two.

Naruto started to remove his zipper of his orange jacket and shrugged of his jacket showing his well defined chest and abs by his tight T-Shirt he always wore and seeing this nearly all the kunochi blushed and got nose bleeds.

"What good does removing your jacket dobe "snarled Kiba and thought this fight was not supposed to take this long

Naruto wordlessly tossed his jacket behind his shoulder and when it touched the ground it formed a crater in the ground and everyone saw this with their jaws on the ground and then saw that he was wearing chakra weights and made no move to remove it

"I feel a 500 pounds lighter "answered Naruto seeing the question on everyone's mind

Still more jaws hit the floor and everyone started wondering how the hell he was beating Kiba with that much weight on and Gai theorized that he was wearing he same amount of Lee's weight, give or take a few pounds and that was a cause for concern seeing as he will be an equal in speed with lee without his gates but this one has used two elements and what not he had showed, oh yes he was worried so was Neji who thought that Naruto was a clanless loser but he was as strong as Lee if not maybe be stronger than Lee and Lee was the only one who Neji had to make an effort to beat and that is because Lee has no long range unlike Naruto who has it and can effectively use it but would rather die and admit it.

Naruto ignoring all those around him, his eyes becoming colder than before if possible attacked and faster than Kiba could blink he was on him and he started beating the pound on both the Kibas.

"I will not lose to you "roared Kiba and blindly attacked Naruto, Naruto narrowed his eyes and started forming hand seals and moved again at a speed not seen by the naked eye and was in front of the second Kiba in a blink of an eye, completing his Jutsu, his hand covered in lightening making the second Kiba eyes go wide.

Naruto just grinned and said "**Raiton-Electric palms**" and caught the second Kiba by the neck and lifted him single handily and gave a huge electric shock and threw him into the wall, there was a puff of smoke and Akamaru appeared and he slide down the wall and was unconscious.

"Next time think before yapping your mouth off, one Kiba always shouting and the other silent and always attacked with the directions of the other it was clear as rain who the original and the duplicate was" said Naruto with a cold smirk

"YOU BASTARD" howled Kiba seeing his partner go down and yelled "**FANG OVER FANG**"

"Pathetic "muttered Naruto and raising a hand and pointing it t the spinning Kiba and said **"Futon-Cyclone Cutter**" and a cyclone of wind blasted from Naruto's hand and engulfed Kiba, the wind blades inside the cyclone all giving him paper cuts.

When Naruto stopped giving chakra to his Jutsu, He saw Kiba fall down with his jacket shredded and cuts all over the body, he just gave him a cold glance and started leaving the stadium, Gekko Hayate got out of his shock and announced "Uzumaki Naruto is the winner" and watched the medics rushing to Kiba and take him away

Up at the stands,

The other Gennins and Jounin were in shock at Naruto's display of power while Kakashi was having a heart attack _"what the hell is this, I never would have guessed that he was this strong, not only he knows a Taijutsu style but he can do THREE elements while doing a futon element one of the hardest element to control SEALESSLY and he is not even going full power yet if the rest of his weighs are any indication"_

Gai thought _"that was the most youthful battle i have ever seen, Naruto is flowing with the power of youth_"

Meanwhile at the sand team,

Gaara was muttering that mother is asking for the blondes blood while Kankuro was eyeing him wearily and Temari was in shock and thought" _How could this happen, he did Futon Jutsu without any handseals that is not possible even in Suna no one has ever done that, heck I doubt even the most experienced of Jounin can do what he did and this guy is a freaking Gennin, who the hell is this guy"_

Baki thought" _seal less Futon Jutsu I would have not thought possible, at first glance this guy seemed the weakest of them all but now he could give Gaara a run for his money if his chakra level is any indication and the worst part is even after doing all this Justus he hasn't even used over half his chakra stores, if leaf has these strong fighters then I am starting to doubt this invasion_"

The Clan heads were muttering among themselves that Naruto could be this strong and narrowed their eyes as theyall saw the smirk on Sandanime's lips and the worst part is he was not even trying to hide them.

Naruto ignored all the mutterings and made his way to his team, he ignored the worried look from Sakura and the jealous look from Sasuke and he glared at Kakashi who started to talk to him and just leaned back against the wall and closed his eyes, he felt three people near him and saw the remainders of team Kurenai along with their sensei there.

"And what do you want "said Naruto in a cold and detached tone giving them a glare from his glazier eyes, Kurenai was intimidated and saw his glace look into her very soul, refusing to be shown that she was intimidated she steeled herself and said in an apologetic tone" I am sorry that my Gennin said those words, making you angry is one thing but that was not right, I apologise sincerely for this" and gave a low bow

Naruto seeing this gave a long sigh and said "he did not speak wrong you know, I did bad mouth him some what but if it makes you fell better apology accepted" and gave a small smile

Kurenai gave a small smile on her own and nodded her head, she saw Hinata go up to give and gave him her medicinal salve and smiled at that.

"What is this "asked Naruto in a curious tone

"This is medicine for your wound Naruto kun"mumbled Hinata while playing with her forefingers

Naruto simply nodded and gingerly opened the sale and smeared it on his cut and gave a painful gasp at its sting and a happy sigh at its soothing effect and said "thanks you Hinata chan"with a true smile on his face

Hinata turned beet red and nodded very fast at this and scurried away

Ignoring his team he turned towards the board which was spinning and showed

SABAKUU GARRA

VS

ABURIMI DOSU

This was not a match but a slaughter Dosu fired a sound blast that should have made Gaara unconscious but Gaara simply made earplugs out of sand and caught Dosu and said **"Desert Coffin**" and gave a insane smirk and then said "**Desert Funeral" **and the sand encased Dosu and started to crush him at the enormous pressure and before the Procter could stop it he nothing more that=n a pile of crushed bones

The scoreboard started spinning again and it read

ROCK LEE

VS

AKIMICHI CHOUJI

Lee yelled" YOSH, GAI SENSEI IT IS FINNALY MY TURN,I WILL HAVE A YOUTHFULL BATTLE AGAINST THE YOUTHFULL CHOUJI IF I CAN'T WIN I WILL DO 500 PUSHUPS ON MY THUMB IF NI THEN I WILL CLIMB THE HOKAGE MOUNTAIN 1000 TIME ON ONE FINGER WITH MY HANDS AND FEET TIED IF NOT........."

Gai yelled" YOSH MY YOUTHFULL LEE SHOW THEM THE POWER OF YOUTH"

"Oh Gai-Sensei" said Lee with tears in his eye

"GAI SENSEI"

"LEE"

"GAISENSEI"

"LEE"

"GAI SENSEI"

"LEE"

(Standard Genjutsu with seaside waterfall and a cliff)

The others watcher this with a graciousness of a train wreck and many were attempting to break the illusion with yells of "KAI"

Finally the Procter Hayate had enough and roared "ROCK LEE GET DOWN HERE NOW"

Lee was on the arena and everyone gave a sign of relief that the Genjutsu was over and was afraid they would be mentally scarred for life

Chouji gave an air of determination and gave an awkward greeting to Lee's exuberant greeting,

As soon as the Procter started the match Lee rushed in and gave an axe kick to Chouji but forgot one thing while an Akimichi does not have speed they make up for it in body strength, Chouji caught the kick and even though he was pushed back expanded his fist to a size of a small boulder and smashed it on Lee sending him flying and yelled" **Body Expansion-Meat Tank"** and grew to enormous portion and started rolling at high speeds at Lee, who in order to escape the rolling tank started running in circle

Gai then Yelled "YOSH LEE, take them off"

"Are you sure Gai sensei, you only told me that I can take them off when I am protecting my precious people" yelled Lee

""No this time I allow it" Shouted Gai doing his nice guy pose

"YOSH" yelled Lee and jumped onto the hand and took out his weights hidden beneath his orange warmers and dropped them they made the same crater as Naruto jumper only a LOT bigger, Naruto seeing this gave an exciting grin and started paying more attention to the match

Lee then moved and disappeared from the naked eye only the Hokage, Jounins, Naruto and Gaara can see him come in front of Chouji and kicked the roiling meat tank in the air and then yelled" **FIRST GATE OPEN**"

Kakashi then yelled "What Gai you taught him the Hachimon gates, how could you"

Gai said in a cold tone" Lee needed an ace for his lack of chakra my youthful rival and he is my student I can teach him what I want unlike you"

Kakashi flinched at this and turned back to fight

Lee then started kicking Chouji up in the air a with a series of axe kicks and then unravelled his bandages and tying it around Chouji both spin him around and Chouji hit the ground with Lee flying off and yelled "**Omote Renge"**

Chouji had stars in his eyes when the dust cleared and Lee was made the victor

Chouji 's father Akimichi Chouza just smiled proudly at his son display of strength and went with the medics to see his son

The scoreboard started spinning again and it read

HYUUGA NEJI

VS

HYUUGA HINATA

For some reason the announcement of the next match brought a cold knot into Naruto's stomach. He watched with certain amount of trepidation as Hinata was matched against her cousin Neji. A knot that grew tighter and colder when Lee snuck up to him and whispered "Neji is the greatest genius born in their clan in the last hundred years. And he holds a grudge against the main house because he is from the branch house. This could get ugly."

Down at the arena Neji was berating Hinata, telling her how she was worthless, weak and unskilled. Hiashi was narrowing his eyes at this and hoped that Hinata would forfeit so that she will not get hurt, he may act cold and continuously berate her but he always will love her and Hanabi very much.

That didn't quite bury the knot in Naruto's stomach but it certainly made him feel angry. Hinata only had problems with her confidence and that bastard Neji was attacking just that. He narrowed his eyes and bellowed "ENOUGH, HINATA DON'T LISTEN TO THE JACKASS YOU ARE A GREAT FIGHTER AND SHOW THE BASTARD WHAT YOU ARE MADE OF!"

And indeed it had worked. Hinata collected herself after the loud encouragement from her personal idol, activated her Byakugan and dropped into a Jyuken stance. "Come Neji-Nissan let us fight." Neji was somewhere between pleased and annoyed because his weak cousin hadn't given up. It would have been delightful to humiliate a member of the main house by scaring her into forfeiting … but it would be almost as delightful to beat one into hospital, preferably into the morgue and in front of her father no less. He too took a Jyuken stance and the battle was joined.

Up on the balcony Hiashi and Naruto was watching with growing concern. While it did seem that Hinata was holding the upper hand after her determination had been lit by little encouragement, his eyes told him that Neji was actually toying with Hinata. He winced when Neji landed two hits on Hinata's chest causing her to spit out blood. Hinata then tried to strike Neji only to be stuck in the arm for her efforts. Neji then slammed his hand into her chest again with enough force to send her sprawling on the ground.

He looked down at his weak cousin who was coughing blood on the ground and said in a scornful tone "Hinata-Sama… this is the difference in our strength… the difference between elite and loser. Forfeit…" Neji smiled to himself, this was indeed quite pleasurable. He narrowed his eyes slightly at the sight of Hinata who was slowly standing up and wetted his lips in anticipation to hear a submission from a member of the main house.

His eyes narrowed even more and his face turned into a scowl when Hinata finally stood up and said "No… I don't go back on my word… it's my nindo." Hinata, her eyes once more pulsing with the Byakugan, charged forward and challenged Neji in combat again… only to be hit repeatedly by Neji.

Naruto, whose anger was beginning to spike, began to inch closer to Hinata's sensei… there was a pattern behind those hits. "He's trying to kill or at least severely wound Hinata… You have put an end to this. Those strikes are all aimed to non vital organs but the combined effect of the damages could be… fatal." As he said the

On the arena Neji was happily smirking at Hinata who was struggling to get back on her feet. He'd hit multiple organs with the Jyuken, none of the hits were lethal but… accidents did happen. His smirk waned when he felt a stab of intense anger and killer intent that was rolling from the balcony. Without turning his eyes he observed the loudmouth blonde… or what should have been him. Instead of the blonde there was something… else, something that actually was slightly scaring. He was Hyuuga Neji, he didn't get scared… ever, so instead he got angry and directed the anger to where he felt it was due… to his cousin. Deciding to put an end to this charade he charged forward ignoring the yell of "Neji the match is over!" from Hayate only to be stopped by no less than four Jounin and an angry Naruto who had blocked the last blow with his wrist chakra weight.

Behind the Jounins Hinata suddenly buckled over coughing out more blood. With a loud yell of "Hinata" Naruto turned around and caught her. They locked eyes for a second and her eyes seemed to say "See Naruto-kun… I can be strong!" before Hinata's eyes rolled over and she slipped into unconsciousness. Yelling for someone to get the damn medic team there faster and saw her father Hiashi Hyuuga coming down wards and saw him give a sad glance at Neji before schooling his features and turned to his daughter and started seeing how bad her injuries were.

Letting the professionals take over he suppressed yet another surge of anger turned to face the pleased looking Neji. Neji swallowing his earlier fear of the blonde and said"Hey losers cut the pointless cheering on other losers and understand that you are never going to be more than just that… a loser." That did it the bastard was going down… hard. Naruto just narrowed his eyes and unleashed his killing intent that was building up, Nearly all the Gennins were on the floor and Neji was also on the floor panting hard as he was the one the killing intent was focused on and mentally added that he needed to thank Tatsuki Baa Chan for teaching him to control his killing intent and focus it on others for intimidation

Naruto stared at Neji, his eyes never leaving him and said in a cold voice "You think you are better than others because of your skills Hyuuga, I will show you that you're skills and your eyes are meaningless at the finals, just you wait Hyuuga I will show you this for Hinata"

Neji trying hard to breathe spluttered" you are both losers, you will both die for this stupitidity fate is on my side"

Naruto just narrowed his eye and increased his killing intent making even the Jounins to break in sweat and causing Gaara to mutter crazy about his mother wanting his blood making his siblings inch away from him if they were able to move as they were paralyzed from the killing intent

"ENOUGH" Bellowed a aged and powerful voice and Naruto felt a wrinkled hand on his shoulder giving off a comforting aura and in a soft voice Sandaime Hokage said "control your killing intent Naruto this is not the time and place for it"

Naruto snarled at this but obeyed him and said "at the finals Hyuuga" and stalked back to the stand

The Hokage began by congratulating all those who had passed and proceeded to explain that they now had two months to recover, train and to device strategies against their opponents as they wait for the arrival of daimyos from far off countries hence the long period. As for the opponents… after a series of drawing lots the fight schedule was established. They are

FIGHT 1: NEJI HYUUGA VS NARUTO UZUMAKI

FIGHT 2: SASUKE UCHIHA VS SABAKUU GAARA

FIGHT 3: ABURAME SHINO VS SABAKUU KANKURO

FIGHT 4: NARA SHIKAMARU VS SABAKUU TEMARI

FIGHT 5: ROCK LEE VS THE WINNER OF FIGHT 1

To his delight Naruto drew against Neji giving a cold smirk at him and went to the hospital to check on Hinata after the Hokage dismissed them for 2 months time.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7:

Naruto was making his way through the hospital rooms, he had checked up on Hinata and found that though she had major hits they were able to save her and she would be fine in two months.

As he made way from the hospital he was thinking along the lines of going to Ichirakui and then go to the library to know about the Hyuuga clan as Tatsuki Baa Chan nearly beat it into him that one should always know ones opponent in a fight and to never underestimate anyone just by looks heck he was a walking testament on that and finally go home to get a good nights rest. When at the door he saw the lone figure of Kakashi standing there and signalling him to follow him.

"_I really do not need this" _thought Naruto with a long suffering sigh but followed him nonetheless.

When they reached training ground 7 Kakashi motioned him to sit down and was himself lost in thought.

"_What the hell do_ _I say to him, I have to train Sasuke as he is facing Gaara and I know he will need all the help he can get but Naruto is facing a Hyuuga but he is a leaf nin who won't kill him sorry Naruto you may hate me for this but I must protect Sasuke it is for Obito and I can't have you leave my team Naruto other wise I will betray my sensei, forgive me for what I must do Naruto" _thought Kakashi

He said" well Naruto congratulations on passing the second exam though you should have said that you trained privately to me so I would not have worried so much about me" said Kakashi with an eye smile

Naruto just grunted at that and did not reply

However Kakashi ploughed on despite the lack of communication and weirdness how his happy go lucky student is just sitting there quietly and said "However there is some bad news because there are two of you in the finals I have time to train only one of you and Sasuke is facing Gaara who might I add is a ruthless killer so I have to train him to withstand against him"

"Kakashi while Sasuke may get killed, what about me the Hyuuga will only humiliate me in front of the whole village and the daimyo that is all Neji would do, if you are going to train Sasuke then what I am doing here Kakashi "said Naruto calmly

Kakashi winced at the lack of sensei and said "now don't be like that Naruto I do care about you, so I asked Ebisu to train you on the finer points of chakra control and face off against Neji"

Naruto started to get up and started walking away and Kakashi asked "where are you going Naruto I did not tell where you will meet Ebisu"

Naruto calmly replied as he stopped walking and without turning around said" I do not need to meet that closet pervert Kakashi, why should I have to meet the guy who had openly said he had hated me for the Kyubbi and why do you suddenly care now, you had no qualms against sending me to the Chunnin exams when you hardly trained me, what makes the difference now"

Kakashi was feeling guilty about that and said" I am sorry Naruto I know I am not the greatest of teachers but I do want you to be a great ninja"

"really then tell me Kakashi how the hell is training in chakra control going to help me fight against a freaking Hyuuga who can just shut down my entire chakra system and tell me something you really don't want me to pass as a Chunnin, do you"

When Kakashi did not speak Naruto just walked forward and said "Thought so" and left the clearing

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After finishing twelve bowls at the Ichirakui ramen stand, Naruto was fuming at Kakashi's words as he was making was to the library that moron was just feeling guilty over what Kiba said and even now he just abandons me so he can concentrate on Sasuke and also dumping me on that closet pervert who not only hates him but to train him in chakra control, it made him laugh during these 7 months nearly half his clones had worked on chakra control and he had altogether master kunai balancing exercise and was halfway between making the leaf float upto 2 inches and currently he can only do upto 5 inches a high Chunnin level chakra control.

When he entered the library door he saw Tatsuki Baa Chan was sitting on the reception desk and cataloguing the books when she saw him enter she waved at him to come over, Naruto gave her a rare smile she became one of the most precious people for him was always dotting on him like a grandmother to him during these 7 months, when he got over there she immediately asked how did he do the exam and who was he fighting on the finals

Naruto laughed at this and said in a humorous voice "well now Baa-Chan, you certainly are getting ahead of yourselves I never did tell you that I passed the second exam"

"oh please you can not fool me brat I know for a fact there are a few Gennins that can match you now and even they will have a hard time at that "replied Tatsuki and looked in Naruto face with a clear expression you- better-tell-me now-or-else face

Naruto just laughed at this and told the entire story from the start of the exams to Hinata and asked her help. Tatsuki replied "well the only thing you can do is try to attack him at long range and defeat him for he is one of the Gennins who are dangerous and there is a talk that he is the greatest Hyuuga to ever grace the Hyuuga family and a prodigy at Jyuken Taijutsu so hand to hand combat is out"

"Hmm I will think about what you said Baa Chan, in the meanwhile could you give me the information on Byakugan I think I will study about what is generally known about them" said Naruto thoughtfully and when Tatsuki gave the book on Hyuuga to him he waved goodbye and went to his home since it was a long day.

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The next day Naruto woke up late and started doing his morning chores made his breakfast food of toast and eggs which Ayame had practically drilled him to eat to get proper nutrients he had grown somewhat due to his normal food intake during these 7 months and was planning to go and get new clothes and maybe get some orange less ones since the only reason he wore that colour was to get attention when he was pretty desperate to escape the loneliness back when he was younger as he went to take a bath he discovered his heater was broken and taking his clothes and a towel he went to a nearby hot spring.

"AHHH"exclaimed Naruto as he sat on the hot spring the hot water doing great on his sore muscles, he was alone on the spring since it wasn't rush hour and he was enjoying the peace when he suddenly heard a giggle which was coming from the side of the women's hot spring, he ignored it seeing he recognised that giggle as a the giggle which always comes from his ex-sensei when he was reading that orange book but the giggles kept coming, so with a disgruntled sigh he redressed and came out of the hot spring and saw a white haired man who was dressed as a kabuki actor along with the wooden sandals having knee length hair and a giant scroll on his back and a forehead protector with kanji for oil there along with peeking in a hole at the woman side of the hot spring giving a perverted giggle and writing furiously on his note book

Naruto soon gave a tick mark on his forehead as the man just shrugging of his killing intent and said in a deadly voice "what the hell are you doing pervert"

The man just shushed him and then went back to his peeking, the tick marking growing on his forehead Naruto started doing handseals for a Jutsu, as if sensing the gathering of chakra the man whipped around and said "Gaki, you are annoying me and stopping me from my research" and started doing handseals faster than he could see and slammed it into the ground where a toad appeared and swatted his tongue at him , Naruto surprised at seeing a toad was unable to defend and got caught in the tongue and when the toad was about to fling him he shouted "WAIT"

The man now clearly annoyed fully turned around and saw Naruto's face for the first time and froze" _wait a minute blue eyes, blonde hair, whisker marks on his face and a fiery attitude, oh shit this is Naruto, Minato and Kushina's kid, I did not intent to meet him till after the Chunnin exams what the hell should I do now _"thought Jirayia with a agitated face

Naruto not seeing this said "hey you old pervert put me down"

Jirayia snapped out of his stupor and muttering a quick apology and let him down was looking around at an agitated expression on what the hell does have to talk about, I mean what the hell you could say to your god child after nearly12 years.

Again ignoring the pervert's expression he said "you are Jirayia of the Sannin aren't you"

The old man coughed and said in a jovial voice" of course I am Gaki it is a wonder that small boys like you can recognise my awesomeness "and started laughing

Naruto sweat dropped at this and said "no I just recognised the toad summon, what were you doing peeking at the women's hot spring any way"

"I was conducting research Gaki"answered Jirayia with a perverted smile

"research , you are just a pervert "yelled Naruto ,Jirayia looked at this in a wounded expression and said" Gaki, you hurt me I am not just any pervert I am a SUPER PERVERT" and started doing a ridiculous pose with one hand at this hip and the other at pointing to the sky.

Naruto just sweat dropped again at this and thought what a moron he must be to admitting he was a super pervert and seemed to be proud of it and just said "what ever Ero-Sennin, I am out of here" and started walking away, Jirayia having a idea started following him.

Naruto saw that he was being followed just stopped and shouted "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME ERO SENNIN"

"don't call me that Gaki, tell me something, what is your name, are you in the Chunnin exams, who are you facing and why are you not training now with your Jounin sensei "asked Jirayia

Blinking at the change of subject and the rapid questions Naruto replied "I am Naruto Uzumaki, I am in the finals and I am facing Neji Hyuuga and as for training with my Jounin sensei he is currently training my teammate Sasuke Uchiha who is also in the finals".

"Then who is training you then "asked Jirayia narrowing his eyes

"No one "replied a confused Naruto not seeing where this was going

"Well then you are in luck Gaki I think I will train you "replied Jirayia

Alarm bells started ringing in Naruto's years and he immediately asked in a suspicious tone "and why are you doing this" all the while discretely going to his kunai holster

Narrowing his eyes at that gesture he replied "you are interesting kid that all"

"And what will you be training me in "said Naruto still suspicions of Jirayia

"well that is simple you have you felt another chakra source in you "asked Jirayia thinking that perhaps training in Kyubbi would be enough to defeat the Hyuuga

"Yes "said Naruto narrowing his eyes having a itching suspicion that it has some thing to do with the furball

"Well I am going to teach you to access that chakra "replied Jirayia surprised the kid knows the chakra

Naruto was furious as his suspicion was confirmed and he showed it by yelling" you are talking about training me in Kyubbi's chakra aren't you"

"Yes it is a powerful tool and can boost your strength considerably "said Jirayia

"get lost old man, I will never train in the furballs chakra hell I don't need his chakra, for 12 years I have been trying to tell the village that I am no demon and you want me to use the same demons power "yelled Naruto

"what do you mean kid, what convincing the village" feeling a hundred percent sure he was missing something when ever he asked something about Naruto to Sarutobi sensei he always said that Naruto was doing well and was having a happy life that is why he never visited all those years but he seemed to be missing some thing as from what he can see Naruto does not seem to have had anything that tells a normal childhood ranging from his darting eyes and to his defence position when he sneaked up on him and not yet dropping it. Perhaps he needed to have that talk with Sarutobi sensei a little early

Naruto did not seem hear Jirayia reply and ranted on "look here jack ass I don't know you and I never asked to be trained, you just come from Kami knows where and expect me to learn to use the chakra from the being that causes my misery"

"calm down Gaki the fourth Hokage did seal it for a purpose you know and perhaps it is for to use it "said Jirayia in a soothing tone hoping it will placate the boy however it did the exact opposite

"Well if the Fourth Hokage wanted it then he can use it himself I will say this though f—k the fourth Hokage and f—k you, if you think you can come into my life and tell me what to do "bellowed Naruto

Jirayia tried to talk to the boy but Naruto having enough of this merely raised his arm and shouted "**Futon-Gale Wind Palm"** only Jirayia training enabled it to dodge the blast from point blank range and saw Naruto running away and thought"_sealless Futon Jutsu and a bloody hatred for the fourth Hokage, I am definitely missing some thing here, who should I ask, Hmmm"_

Naruto was running from the hot spring at full speed and checked over his shoulder and was glad that he was not being followed, he knew full well that he cannot out run a Sannin it was clear enough that the last time he tried he got two broken ribs thanks to the furball it was healed overnight which was the only good perk of being its container. He merely sighed and started making way to his clearing and thought about revising all the techniques he knew and started working on his little project that he had been developing for 5 months that includes the wind element and the wind shunshin.

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Tatsuki Iwasu gave a huge sigh she was not as she used to be, tidying the place in the morning was not to do list but she continued as she was working she suddenly stiffened and relaxed and said loudly "To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit Jirayia Sama"

Jirayia materialised out of his Genjutsu and gave a lopsided grin and said" still as sharp as ever aren't you Tatsuki and you know you don't have to call me that sama crap"

"what do you want Jirayia, you don't show up for 12 years and now act as though we were old friends again" said Tatsuki in an annoyed voice

"Is that how you speak to your former war comrade and best friend" said Jirayia with an amused tone

Tatsuki snorted and said "best friend my foot, I and Tsundae always had to watch out for you since we were in neighbouring squads especially from Koharu sensei particularly, since she never did like you or your lecherous habits"

"True I heard she is doing well and growing paranoid in her time as a council advisor "replied Jirayia

"I repeat what do you want Jirayia it is not like you to perform small talk after coming here for more than 12 years and how come you are here anyway last I heard you were in kiri _enjoying _the sights" asked Tatsuki with a serious face

Jirayia sighed and in a serious voice replied "Sarutobi sensei asked me to be here and said that it was time for me to train Naruto and I can have him after the Chunnin exams"

"So that is the old monkey plan" interrupted Tatsuki with an amused grin

"Anyway" continued Jirayia giving no indication that he was interrupted "I met Naruto by the hot springs this morning...."and told Tatsuki the details of his meeting, his proposition to Naruto, Naruto's behaviour and his anger and his own suspicions of his the child life.

Tatsuki took all this without interrupting and was getting nervous, it would seem that the old Hokage didn't tell Jirayia about Naruto even though she doesn't know the boys exact relation to Jirayia, she now could see that Jirayia beneath this swagger obviously cared about Naruto a great deal and was hurt and confused by this behaviour and he could get angry if he learned the truth and an angry Jirayia is not a pleasant enemy and certainly not what Konoha needs now with Orichimaru at bay, she contemplated telling the truth or not, and saw Jirayia face, seeing his stern expression which just about could intimidated anyone she relented and told him about Naruto life the birthday beating, the academy teachers hatred, his mask to conceal his emotions, his graduation day, his team and the abandonment of his Jounin sensei, his private training and what all books he had brought and also the details of his Chunnin exams, his run in with Orichimaru, the prelims fight and finally about the final abandon of Hatake Kakashi leaving him to train with a Kyubbi hater for training Sasuke Uchiha.

Jirayia was getting paler and paler and was almost rivalling his ex-teammate colour complexion hearing his godson's story, he cannot believe that Sarutobi sensei would keep this from him and have half a mind to go and kill him and the entire council and tracking down Kakashi and giving him a slow and painful death and then finally shove a Rasengan up his ass. His chakra started to churn around him in anger and he was getting up so he can do the following threat.

Tatsuki seeing this reaction and guessing his intentions said sharply "SIT DOWN Jirayia, now is not the time to announce your presence to this village, control yourself"

"CONTROL MYSELF "bellowed Jirayia "I will control myself after I kill every one of those morons that call the council and then Kakashi and finally my sensei"

"I said sit down man, this village does not need your anger right now not when your teammate is planning some thing" snarled Tatsuki getting up to restrain the old pervert

"The hell I care, I only care about the boy, why do you think I spent 12 years of my life chasing down enemies and spying on others not for this god forsaken village but for him, I bled for him knowing that he was safe and happy here but I find out he was not only made into a pariah but the only emotions he knows was abandon and betrayal and grew up in a life of loneliness this is not what I planned for when I left him all those years ago "yelled Jirayia but controlled his chakra output and sat down

"Jirayia I don't know what relation you have with the boy but you must understand Sarutobi knew you would be angry and you were needed outside of the village with us weakened from the Kyubbi attack and all but he did care for the boy one time when he had to kill in self defence , he grew ballistic and nearly massacred half the ANBU squads for not protecting him during his guard assignment, he protected the boy and hurt those who attacked him quite severly and he even killed some council members personally when they went behind his back and ordered an assassination and as for loneliness well he has that but he has some precious people he call as family his academy teacher Iruka he sees as an older brother and there is the Ichirakui ramen stand that he frequently visits they protected him during the festival by hiding him and even when they were at a business loss for housing the boy they did not care and even gave him free ramen and the owners daughter even buys groceries for him and was the one who even taught him to read and write and they are his most precious people for them he would give his life, don't leave him to defend himself when you left because of you anger"said Tatsuki in an old voice seeing jiriya calm down

"is he really happy with the village"asked jiriya in a neutral voice

"yes even though he may not show it he loves the village and he would protect for those precious people who reside in them or die trying you know instead of showing yourself prematurely you can train him to become strong as his dream is coincidentally in becoming hokage"said Tatsuki

"_Like father like son I guess"_ mused Jirayia and said "I will think about it" and got up and started to leave

"You know Jirayia is it coincidence that he has the same blue eyes and blonde hair and a knack for learning Justus similar to a blonde haired Gaki you trained or is it something else" asked Tatsuki suddenly glancing at Jirayia sharply

"Don't know maybe" lied Jirayia smoothly and left the library leaving Tatsuki to her musings

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Jirayia was wandering aimlessly thinking of what Tatsuki said and deciding on what to do, on one hand he can just go and pretty much assassinate the council scream at his sensei and take Naruto and away from this god forsaken village or train Naruto to become the protector of this village.

While the first option was tempting, he knew that if Naruto was anything like his father he will always take the second option, muttering about self righteous blonde haired idiots he saw a side saying Ichirakui ramen stand.

"_Why not may find some information on Naruto and then think about this decision _" Jirayia thought to himself and went in with a shrug, as he raised the flap he saw a few stragglers eating ramen and saw an average eating place

"Good morning sir, what is your order please" asked Ayame politely seeing an old man walking in who seemed to be new to these parts

Glancing at the menu card Jirayia ordered a bowl of miso ramen and as he waited for her father to come with the bowl he started looking around he saw some photos in the adjacent wall one showed a small blonde haired boy who looks to be about 5 eating a ramen bowl with the Sandaime Hokage another showed the same boy wearing an orange jumpsuit who looked to be about 8 as he pouted while being scolded by the younger looking Ayame if he guessed right and the final one showed the boy holding a forehead protector giving a stupid smile along with the old man who was making the ramen, Ayame and a Chunnin with a scar across his face possibly Iruka if what Tatsuki said is true.

Just then Ayame came and placed the ramen bowl in front of him and as he broke the chopsticks he said" you know I cant help noticing those photos you have there, who is the boy your brother"

Ayame looked at the photos and gave a warm smile at them and said "No he is not my brother but I think of him like that, he is a hero if many does not consider him to be, the first one was his first ramen bowl on his 5th birthday when the Hokage Sama treated him here and the second was when he was so impatient to get ramen he threw a tantrum it was so cute back then and the last was his graduation party that he had here when he became a Gennin"

"Oh"said Jirayia and started eating his ramen thoughtfully and as he was slurping the broth he asked "is he happy here in the village"

Ayame gave him a confused glance at this and said "even though his life was not the best one he is happy here and will protect it"

"I see thanks for the ramen" said Jirayia as he paid for the ramen and made his decision when he walked out the shop.

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Naruto woke up from his bed suddenly, he had a long and hard training yesterday and was dead tired and was wondering why he woke suddenly in the middle of the night when he hearing a noise coming out of the kitchen gripping his bed side kunai he made his way stealthily and saw a large silhouette rummaging his food drawers flipping on the light switch he saw who was it and yelled "YOU what the hell are you doing here Ero-Sennin "

"Don't call me that Gaki is that how you call your new sensei" said Jirayia calmly as he was still rummaging his drawer for any thing edible so far he found were ramen packets, some toast, a few eggs and half bottle of milk and cereal

"You are not my sensei and I thought I told you that I never want to learn Kyubbi's power and i meant what you are doing in my food drawer" said Naruto in a clipped tone as this guy was getting on his nerves

"Well I am searching for any thing edible and as for your first statement of course I am your sensei Gaki not many would have the honour of training with a Sannin and don't worry about Kyubbi's power if you do not want to learn it then I am not going to force you to no I am more interested in your sealless Futon Jutsu "explained Jirayia calmly looking at Naruto's eyes for the first time

"Sorry for being rude but I really don't trust senseis and seeing as my first academy sensei tried to kill me and the second one abandoned and I don't even know you" said Naruto with a hostile glare the grip on his kunai tightening

"Well we have to break that tradition won't we" said Jirayia with a smirk" and you really don't need that kunai boy if I wanted to hurt I would have done so already seeing as you faced Orichimaru and I am his equal in fighting power to him and if don't trust me fully yet give me a chance and I will gain your trust" said Jirayia with a serious face

Naruto thought about what he said and knew that much was true if he wanted to hurt him then he would have killed him already and not pleaded with him for his trust or to train him it was too good to be true and even his instincts told him to trust the man there was some thing in the man which screamed trust. He sighed finally and lowered his kunai and asked" why, why do you want to train me so badly, i can only bring you scorn and hatred for associating with me and if it is pity then you can forget it and leave through the door"

Jirayia sighed and said "Believe me it is not pity Gaki and as for scorn and hatred well screw them and I am not doing this for me I am doing this for you, for 1st reason I really am intrigued by your sealless Futon Jutsu and second because I want to and third if not for a small reason its penance"

"Penance" asked a confused Naruto" for what"

Jirayia smiled ruefully and said "for leaving you"

Ignoring Naruto's shocked face he continued "you really think that the fourth Hokage will leave you in the cold, he made me your legal guardian and wanted me to take care of you"

"Yet you left me on this sh*thole"said Naruto in an angry tone

"only because the Sandaime said he would care for you and look after you Gaki, till now I had no idea what life you had, I thought that you had a happy life filled with happy memories that is why I stayed away from this place thinking that if I was seen with you when you were younger then you will be dead" said Jirayia

"What do you mean?"Asked Naruto in a neutral tone not knowing whether to forgive Jirayia or not

"I may not look it Gaki but I am one of the Sannin and I have a large number of enemies more so than others because not only during the war but I am also the one who trained the Yondaime so Iwa is still mad at me and I am an information specialist and spy it is no cake walk either if it is know that I have a person in my legal custody who has more than half the village hatred with him then you would never have seen your third birthday, I could never take you from the village since my work is a rough one nor can I stay here because it is important for me to be outside , so you see I was not able to come but I did try to be there for you seeing that you have the sleeping cap and purse that I sent you and are still living in this apartment that I sent you money from" said Jirayia

"Hang on" asked a incredulous Naruto "you are the one who send me Gama Chan and and the one who keep sending me anonymous money I thought that is was saru-jiji"

"Well, he only acts as a middle man if can call it that" said Jirayia "so about that training, what do you say"

Naruto thought about it, this guy seems to be telling the truth and he seems regretful that he was not there in his childhood and truthfully he can personally agree that due to his work and enemies he can never be close to him but he did help out indirectly so he would give him the benefit of the doubt and see what happens and said "alright Ero-Sennin, you got me, what are you going to teach me"

"Don't call me that Gaki" growled Jirayia"what have you learned by yourselves first then I can see what I can do"

"Whatever Ero-Sennin "grinned Naruto" I already have a good Chunnin chakra control and mastered the basics of all the elements, wind was the easiest for me since it is my primary element and I managed to master 4 techniques and already started inventing my own wind technique and for water and fire I learned 3 techniques from each of these two elements and I managed to learn 2 lightening techniques and I only mastered only 1 earth technique."

"My, my you certainly were busy and Taijutsu" asked an impressed Jirayia

"I am studying kenpo and am now in my intermediate stages" said a proud Naruto

"Alright Gaki it is still early why don't you get some sleep for a few hours and lets us start training first thing in the morning" said Jirayia as he saw Naruto barely awake form, Naruto just nodded and went to bed thinking of what was said, Jirayia just invited himself to the couch and was soon in dreamland surrounded by beautiful girls and a scantily clad Tsundae

Naruto woke first thing in the morning to a delicious smell wafting from the kitchen he left the bed and saw Jirayia cooking in the kitchen with what appeared to be pancakes, he turned upon hearing Naruto enter and gave a small smile to him said" morning Gaki why don't you freshen up and the pancakes will be ready by then"

Naruto nodded quickly and was soon gorging himself on pancakes and asked what will he be learning today, Jirayia got a thoughtful look as he was eating his own breakfast and said" well due to your immense reserves it is good for you to keep doing the chakra control and seeing as you are going to face a Hyuuga I think I am going to increase your Jutsu arsenal just a tad bit more"

"Alright new Jutsu" yelled a energetic Naruto happy at the thought of new Jutsu to learn

"_Kami Minato he has your energy to learn new Jutsu" _thought Jirayia with a smile and said "that is enough Gaki now before all that you are going to learn the summoning for toads"

"WOW"shouted Naruto

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At the training ground,

"Well, first thing first," said Jirayia as bit his thumb and did three hand seals before slamming his hand on the ground, "Summoning Jutsu!" kanji started flowing from his hand and there was an explosion of smoke and a large orange toad in samurai armor appeared. "This is Gamadaisho (Toad Scribe). He carries the summoning scroll for toads and can be used for defensive purposes."

"What do you want Jirayia?" he asked in an aggravated tone.

"The Gaki is going to sign the summoning scroll," said Jirayia.

Gamadaisho looked at Naruto appraisingly, "He doesn't look like much... Though he does look vaguely familiar..." Naruto bristled at the first comment and was about to yell at the toad and to show who was boss.

"Trust me, the Gaki is the real deal," said Jirayia."He is the Kyubbi container"

"The Kyubbi Kid, We can expect great things from you..." said a now wide eyed toad, "Very well, you may sign the scroll, however, you'll still have to take to the boss before you can summon us freely." He opened his mouth wide and unrolled his tongue revealing a scroll.

Jirayia unrolled the scroll and Naruto noticed both Jirayia's and the Fourth Hokage's names on the scroll. "Now you'll need to sign this contract in blood to make it binding and then you'll need to use some more blood to make a hand print on the scroll like me and Minato did."

Naruto followed his instructions and Jirayia gave Gamadaisho back the scroll before dismissing him. He then showed Naruto the hand seals and how to summon the toads.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Naruto shouted slamming his own hand on the ground. With a puff of smoke a small orange frog appeared.

"Hey, I'm Gamakichi!" said the cheery toad, "You got any snacks?"

"Err... No... Sorry..." said Naruto embarrassed.

"Oh well, next time just give me two and I'll let you summon me," Gamakichi said, "So are you really the Yondaime's legacy?"

"Err... Yeah..." Naruto answered.

"Cool, my dad and that guy fought the Kyubbi together!" said Gamakichi, "I can't wait until I'm boss and we can fight in epic battles like that!"

"That'll be great, we'll be totally kick ass!" said Naruto excitedly.

"No one will be able to stand against us!" shouted Gamakichi.

"Hey, do you like ramen?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah, it's great!" the toad replied. "It's one of my favorite foods."

"All right! That is awesome!" shouted Naruto excitedly.

Jirayia sweat dropped. He was impressed Naruto managed to actually summon a toad on his first try, as both Minato and himself merely summoned tadpoles on their first tries, but what were the odds that Naruto's first summon would have a personality almost like his own, not to mention a weird obsession with ramen. Already Naruto and Gamakichi were forming a bond similar to the one Minato and Gamabunta had.

"_Minato it would seem that your son is destined for great things"_ thought Jirayia

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Jirayia and Naruto were practicing summoning for about a weak and half already Naruto was progressing far better than Jirayia had imagined he had summoned nearly all the offensive middle level toads and also the defensive mid level toads, they were all waiting for Naruto to summon the boss summon before going to high level ones and when Naruto was exhausted with chakra he and Jirayia would talk about seals, Jirayia upon seeing that Naruto was studying seals soon found that his passion for sealing was reignited, it was almost dimmed upon the death of Minato after wards they would talk on strategy and other ninja techniques, though to Jirayia sadness Naruto was refusing to see the side of the super pervert and its glory Icha Icha and Naruto burned the book as target practice for his new Katon Jutsu, he was having so much fun teaching his godson that he even forgot to do research.

Naruto was in bliss, finally he had a great sensei and Jirayia soon grew up on him so much that he looked up to the men except for his perverted habits, they were so alike each other each have a flair for sealing and explosive Jutsu, that he soon trusted the guy with his life.

One day, Jirayia said"Gaki I think it is time we summoned Gamabunta, and learnt to go for higher level"

"Are you sure Ero Sennin you were complaining that even you have trouble with controlling him, are you sure he will listen to me" said Naruto in a nervous voice

"Of course I am sure atleast I think so we will know after we summon him" said Jirayia in a confident tone "remember pour half of your normal chakra store that about had to do it"

"Okay Ero Sennin if you say so" said Naruto in the same nervous tone, he did three seals and slamming the ground after biting his thumb he said" Summoning Jutsu"

. Suddenly he came to a stop on top of the head of the large toad he'd ever seen.

"**JIRAYIA! Where are you! Why have you summoned me!?"** shouted the Toad, **"Who are you Gaki?"**

"I'm the one who summoned you," said Naruto glaring at the giant toad.

The giant toad just laughed. **"Yeah right, Gaki, now where is that no good Jirayia?"**

"Now you listen here Gamabunta I summoned you and that's all there is to it," Naruto demanded.

The giant toad bristled at the boisterous boy's attitude, so he decided to have a bit of fun with the kid and jumped as high as he possibly could.

Gamabunta landed with a giant thud, the earth shaking all around. Naruto were able to remain standing by applying chakra to his feet. Suddenly Gamabunta's voice boomed out, **"Jirayia! You ungrateful Lech, where are you? Why did you summon me this annoying Gaki on my head!?"**

"Listen Gamabunta, I don't know who you think you are, but I AM the one who summoned you got that!" Naruto shouted, "

"**Whatever, Gaki, just tell me where Jirayia is at so I can punish him for me having to deal with an annoyance like you!"** he said.

Suddenly Gamabunta got a good look at him and widening his eyes at the whisker marks

"**So, you're THAT kid, I haven't seen you since the day you were born, right before Minato died," **said Gamabunta, **"Very well, I'll allow you to summon me and the rest of my kin on one condition."**

Naruto visibly calmed himself, "What just like that, alright, name your terms!"

"**When you're old enough Gaki, you must share a drink of sake with me and as for conditions when you sighed your name with blood Gaki it creates a blood pact with us and we would be able to see the events of your life quite clearly to determine you are worthy of summoning us or not, we were amazed at your determination and I even consented you as my subordinate even without a test,"** said the booming voice of Gamabunta.

Naruto was speechless and finally bowed low and stuttered "thank you Gamabunta"

"**No problem**!" said Gamabunta, "**I look forward to working with you Gaki**,** now I must be on my way!" **With a huge puff of smoke Gamabunta went back to the summoning realm,

Naruto stood behind Jirayia and with his hands crossed over his head said "well that went well"

Jirayia was gawking at nothing at particular and when he heard Naruto he started whining" WENT WELL WENT WELL Gaki Gamabunta likes you more than he likes me, I had to work hard and look after the tadpoles at Mount Myobukuzan for a week before he consented me as a worthy summoner, he must be real pleased with you to grant you as a subordinate without a test"  
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Another week passed and Naruto has finally some what mastered summoning as he was able to call a few toads by will, now

Jirayia said "well now summoning is over it is time for us to increase your speed, after your first match if you win you have a battle with rock lee although initial having low Jounin level speed he can open upto 5 hachimon gates so his speed can increase to high Jounin level to low Kage level speed we need to increase your speed to match that"

Naruto started rubbing the back of the head in an embarrassing manner and said" I thought that I forgot to tell you some thing, you see I have been developing a new speed technique with a combination of wind element and wind shunshin can we work on improving that"

Jirayia raised his eyebrows at that and said "and how could you forget to tell me that important a detail"

Naruto just chuckled nervously and said "oops"

Jirayia just gave a long sigh and gestured him to do it now familiar with the blonde's antics, Naruto took a long breath putting his hand in the ram seal started gathering wing chakra around him, Jirayia was watching this with an interesting and professional eye and saw Naruto gathering chakra around his body forming a small cocoon like formation on him and the boy cried"** Flash Step"** and was zooming around the clearing at average Jounin level speed due to his chakra weights that were lying on the ground, Naruto stopped in front of Jirayia and giving a goofy grin he asked "so how was it"

Jirayia did the most logical thing, he fainted, and when he came by he remembered the cause of his fainting he thought"_Minato what is between your family and high speed techniques, for a moment I thought it was you reincarnated with the yellow buzzing around and that speed, huh I need to get drunk tonight"_

Naruto seeing that Jirayia was waking up asked "are you alright Ero Sennin"

"I will be your technique just brought back memories say Naruto learn your Taijutsu style today we will learn to improve that step of yours tomorrow" said Jirayia in a dizzy way and was muttering along the lines of need to get drunk

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A month has passed from the Chunnin prelims Jirayia set Naruto to do the higher lever of wind element control to control his flash step better by separating a running waterfall with wind element.

That day Jirayia said to Naruto to perfect his Taijutsu and his water element as he need to go and check on his contacts

Currently, Naruto was practicing his toad summoning. Jirayia had told his godson that the more chakra he put into the Jutsus the better the results. The old pervert was correct about the more chakra better results, since Naruto had managed to summon toads the size of horses and even larger with practice. Naruto sent out a wave of shadow clones to check the surrounding area. During the blonde's last summoning attempt he nearly revealed the fact that he could summon to everyone within visual range when he summoned Gamaken. That was not something that Naruto wanted to risk again when he practiced summoning this time as he wanted them to be a secret. T. With supreme effort, Naruto pulled all the chakra that he could into his hand and used the summoning Jutsu.

Naruto knew that something had gone wrong even before the smoke cleared. There was the absence of a certain distinct feel under his feet that signaled that the Gennin hadn't summoned one of the larger toads. Suddenly, an old and slightly whiny female voice rang out, "Jirayia! Why have you summoned us this time?"

This voice was almost instantly answered by an old and slightly grumpy male voice that said, "I don't think that little Jirayia summoned us Ma."

Almost immediately afterwards Ma replied, "What do you mean Pa?! That perverted brat is the only one who can summon us. Don't tell me that your memory's going." As soon as Ma finished speaking, the smoke cleared enough so that Naruto could see two small, old toads standing in front of him.

Naruto had become a lot more restrained from how he had been during the Wave mission. However, seeing two small, old toads after all the effort he had put into trying to summon Gamabunta was just too much for Naruto. He shouted out at the top of his lungs, "What's the deal! I put nearly half of my chakra into the summoning Jutsu and instead of getting Gamabunta, I get two old farts!"

Ma pulled out her purse and whacked Naruto upside the head with it. She immediately followed up with jumping on Naruto's shoulder and shouting into his ear, "How dare you speak of me that way you disrespectful brat! Don't you know anything of how you're supposed to speak of a seasoned beauty like me?"

Pa started grinning and he quickly retorted, "Get real Ma. You weren't a beauty when you were young and you certainly aren't one now." This smart remark earned Pa a close up of Ma's purse. Luckily, the old toad was used to his wife's temper and quickly bounced back. Pa then decided to stop joking and focused on Naruto who was slightly out of it from seeing the old couple's antics. For weeks now, he had been hearing reports from the other toads about a new Summoner. Obviously, the boy in front of him had to be the Summoner he was hearing about.

The old toad sage pulled out his pipe and took a quick smoke as he thought about this situation. Why were he and Ma summoned instead of Gamabunta? The power behind the Summoning Jutsu should have summoned his idiot grandson just like Naruto had been hoping for. Pa pulled out his pipe and said, "Naruto, what were you thinking about as you were gathering your chakra and while you were performing the Summoning Jutsu? If you tell me, I might be able to figure out why you summoned Ma and me."

"Well, I needed to see Gamabunta for training me in water element since I know only the basic and not the high level ones and Ero Sennin forgot to give me those instructions, Gamakichi said that toads are the greatest in using Suiton Element so I thought of training and summoned hom"explained Naruto

The two senior toads looked at each other for a moment and then nodded their heads, they too like most of the toad clan know of Naruto life and they have been hearing how good he is and now have a good opportunity to train him and see for themselves.

"Alright Naruto Chan we will train you" said Pa and gave an evil grin

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Two weeks had passed after Jirayia left and when he returned on the following day he was shocked to find that not only Naruto was getting training from the old toads themselves in water manipulation but also Kenjutsu training from Pa with is cane and also discovered Naruto ability to combine wind and water to form ice element so they started teaching him to invent Ice Justus and to use wind and the water element from the toad in combinational attacks for another two weeks passed and at last the day arrived for the Chunnin Final Exam.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

The Chunnin exams have started and all the participants have gathered except for two people

"Where are they?" Shikamaru thought as he looked at his surroundings, he could see the sand siblings,Lee, Shino, Neji, and a Shinobi who had introduced himself as Genma, their referee for the conclusion of the Chunnin Exam, but there was not trace from the two members of Team 7.

Genma looked up to where the Hokage and the other judges where sitting. The Sandaime nodded in acknowledge of the proctor. "If they don't appear soon then we will have to start without them, they have until their matches come up to arrive" Genma started as he looked at the Gennins in front of him. "If they fail to show up by then, they will be disqualified." The Jounin finished.

Shikamaru's teeth gritted against each other, it wasn't like those guys to miss out of something like this. Especially Naruto after what they had talked.

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"Well," Genma began. "I have to ask for the participants that are not in the first match to please leave the are-" The Jounin was silenced when a small twister made out of leaves appear in the arena, inside the twister the figure of Kakashi and Sasuke appeared.

The audience gasped when the leaves started to move, but it changed to cheers when the Uchiha appeared. "Troublesome" Shikamaru muttered as he glared at the audience.

"Sorry we were late, Genma" Kakashi apologized. "Sasuke here got lost on the way to the stadium." The silver haired Shinobi said as he pointed at his student.

"Liar" Sasuke said with a snort.

Genma sighed at his comrade's behavior. "Anyways, as I was saying, the participants that are not in the first match; please go wait in the stands so that we get this over with." The proctor said as he waited for the Gennins, and Kakashi, to move.

"Where is Naruto" asked Kakashi

"Still not here" answered back Genma chewing on his senbon

"Oh dear he better get here quick, I'll be in the audience with Sakura and the others." Kakashi informed the raven haired Gennin before ruffling his hair, which caused the Uchiha survivor to growl in anger, and leaving towards the spectators stands while Sasuke followed Shino,Lee Kankuro, Gaara, Shikamaru and Temari to the waiting terrace, leaving Genma, Neji in the arena.

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A yawn could be heard through the trees of Konoha's forest as a certain white haired man tried to sneak a peak in the girl's side of the hot springs, so far Jirayia had been unsuccessful of getting a clear image. "The brat's match should be coming up pretty soon." The Sannin said to no one in particular. "Maybe I should start to make my way towards the stadium." The perverted author wondered as he looked at the sky.

A second yawn was heard as the Sannin brought out a sake bottle. "Or maybe I should finish this bottle first." Jirayia said in a more energetic voice as he removed the bottle's cap.

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Just then the doors opened and Naruto walked in he was wearing black khaki pants along with a sleeveless white t shirt and over it is a black cloak (think Hiei's dress from yu yu hakusho) and said "sorry am late, got hung up"

"You nearly were late Naruto" chided Shikamaru

"yeah, yeah quit your complaining I am here aren't I" bit back Naruto his hands in his pant pocket looking way casual as if he not going to have a hard fight and started walking towards to the arena

Genma watched as the blond walked to the center of the arena where Neji and he were standing, the Jounin made a note of how much the killing intent in the arena had increased due to Naruto and Neji merely looking at each other.

"I was starting to think that you weren't going to show up" Neji commented as the blond stood before him.

"You should have known better, after all I have to show you that the Hyuuga techniques and that eye are a waste you know." Naruto simply responded.

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"Watch closely Hanabi," Hiashi instructed, having brought his youngest daughter to learn from the matches, "the Hyuuga blood has never flown so strongly in anyone like it does Neji, not even your sister."

"Yes father." Hanabi stated calmly, watching impassively as her cousin walked out onto the field, her eyes widening as a blonde haired youth followed. 'Who's that?' she wondered, 'Is that the person Hinata-Chan was talking about?'

A light flush covered the girl's cheeks, before she shook herself, wondering where on earth it came from.

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"It is destined that I defeat you," Neji replied with a smirk, "The Hyuuga clan is the strongest of the leaf, a weakling like yourself wouldn't stand a chance against the dregs, let alone a prodigy, how could you show me when you will be groveling in the dirt."

"That may be true," Naruto noted with a shrug, "if your power is greater than mine, fighting you would be suicide on my part." He lowered his gaze for a moment. "However…if your power is LESS than mine…" Naruto raised his head, and Neji could see the feral grin in the teen's eyes, "after all some one has forgotten who was doing the groveling in the prelims."

"I see," Neji commented, frowning at the blonde's open bravado, as he got into a standard Jyuken stance, "then you're a fool."

Genma grunted, taking a step back as he sensed the stupidity in getting caught up in the clash of these two hotheads.

"_Man, I feel like the temperature of this arena has dropped many degrees"_ Genma thought as he looked from one Gennin to the other. "The third match of the finals is about to start. Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji" Genma called up as he raised his hand. "Commence!" The Jounin shouted as he brought his hand down.

They both took out their Kunais and ran at each other and started a duel of death with kunais nothing more than blurs to the audience

Naruto brought his kunai down, taking Neji by surprise and giving himself an opening. The blond tried to drive his fist to the side of the Hyuuga face, but was stopped by the black haired Gennin's. Naruto was able to see a smirk for on Neji's face just before the Hyuuga move his hand and sent his kunai towards the blonde's face. Naruto had to step back to prevent the kunai from impaling his chin.

As soon as the blond stepped back, Neji started to gather chakra in the index and middle finger of his left hand, and jammed them into his opponent's chest, sending Naruto back.

Genma watched as the Uzumaki kid grunted in pain. _"That attack was really close to the heart."_ The Jounin thought as the blond put his hand on his chest where the blow had landed. "These kids aren't playing around." Genma whispered to himself.

Once the pain had resided slightly, Naruto looked up to see Neji smirk and get into a specific stance. The blond knew what was coming next and, for his sake, he had to stop the Hyuuga.

Neji started forward as he began his attack, the blond followed suit and rushed to the Hyuuga. Naruto was able to stop Neji's attack by intercepting the black haired boy's forearm, effectively nullifying Neji's momentum.

Naruto grabbed the Hyuuga's arm and closed his fist, preparing his retaliation for what the black haired boy had done earlier. At that moment, Naruto heard the Hyuuga mutter the words "**Kaiten**". Something in the blonde's mind told him that he needed to get away, after realizing what Neji was doing, Naruto jumped back, less than a second later Neji was covered in a chakra and started to spin forming a spinning chakra dome.

"What the hell was that...?" asked Naruto as he stood up

"Did you honestly think it was going to be that easy, Uzumaki?" asked Neji with that same damnable smirk.

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"That's..." Hinata said breaking through the shock of those around her, "Kaiten..."

The other Gennin turned to her for answers. Normally, the timid girl would shy away from such attention, but her shock was just too great at the current moment to either shy away or answer their unasked question.

"Neji's ultimate defense," said Ten-Ten, "with my help during this one month he was able to master it, it creates an impenetrable chakra dome, it is his ultimate defence

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"Father..." began Hanabi, "Isn't that..."

"Hakkesho Kaiten," Hiashi finished for her, "A secret technique only taught to successors of the Hyuuga Clan. In other words, only the Hyuuga Clan Main Family learns this technique, and he managed to do it without instruction. He is truly amazing, I'd have never have expected him to have so much talent."

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"Naruto had better be careful, because that isn't all Neji can do either," said Ten-Ten cryptically, "There's a reason why he's considered to be the strongest Gennin in all of Konoha."

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"my, my ,my you really are a prodigy as they say since that technique is said to be taught to the main clan only, though I think I should feel honored that you use that technique against little old me" said Naruto with a smirk not really caring that he almost got blasted from the spinning chakra

"You should be, you are good I give you that much but this is the end of the road for you" gloated Neji

"It will take more than that to take me down, fool" said Naruto with a cold smirk

"Unfortunately I have to agree with you, you are within range of my Divination," said Neji, as Naruto was just beginning to stand, "**Eight Trigrams Sixty Four Palms**!"

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"Impossible!" said Hiashi in shock.

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Neji charged at Naruto in a blur of motion that the latter Gennin could barely follow. Neji hit Naruto simultaneously at two different points on his body.

2

The strike were met by Naruto's forearms, but missed their targets.

4

Only one of the strikes hit, the blond had managed to dodge the other two.

8

Half of the strikes landed.

16

Neji was getting frustrated when only six strikes hit, the Hyuuga pushed his body even further.

32

Twenty strikes hit, but the rest were stopped by the blond before they could hit their mark.

64

Neji pushed his body to the limit and landed fifty strikes on Naruto, sending the blond crashing down against a tree

"I've close all 64 tenketsu points, you can no longer stand," said Neji smugly as he deactivated his Byakugan. "Don't you find it mortifying that you are completely and utterly powerless against a power far greater than your own? It's time you were disillusioned that with hard work you can make your dreams come true."

"Like I said it would take more than that to take me down" said a bloodied up Naruto as he gave a smirk he vanished in a puff of smoke.

"WHAT, Kage Bunshin "yelled a shock Neji

Up in the stands all were shocked that it was not the real Naruto doing the fighting

Naruto suddenly erupted from the ground and gave a vicious right hook to Neji and sent him flying into the middle of the arena and created a dozen Kage Bunshin and surrounded Neji and started doing hand seals and shouted "**Katon fireball technique**"

Neji cursed and started spinning and deflected the fireballs, mean while the clones started to do the handseals and launched it again at the Hyuuga who deflected it

Then Naruto said" this match is over" with a winning smirk

"What the hell do you mean this is over "snarled Neji

"Simple really, like you said Hyuuga are the dangerous in hand to hand combat but at long range they are next to a woundless puppy, you really should not use a single technique so much Neji, I have figured out your weakness, with your Byakugan, you can see nearly 360 degrees. You can detect an attack from any direction, and that's where the Hakkesho Kaiten comes in. you releases an enormous amount of Chakra through his tenketsu points at the exact moment he is attacked. You intercept the enemy's attacks with your chakra and then spin to counter your enemies attack. Only a master of the Jyuken fighting style can expel such an amount of chakra all at once through multiple points of the body, where as the typical Jounin can only force a small amount through the hands or feet. However you are not a master of the Kaiten yet, you still expel a lot of chakra and by my guess you can only use it three more times before you run out of chakra while I can do the Katon Jutsu a hundred times and not even put a dent in my chakra, face it you are beaten".

Neji as well all the others were gaping now, what Naruto said was true he can't use Kaiten too many times as he still expels a lot of chakra

Up in the stands the Hyuuga elders were gaping at the site and were furious at how their Jyuken were easily defeated by a just two techniques that were commonly used.

"However before you give up, I am curious of your hatred towards the main family" asked Naruto in a curious voice

"If you must know, I'll tell you of the Hyuuga's Fate of Hatred." said Neji as he then proceeded to tell Naruto and those amongst the audience who were listening, about the 'Caged Bird' Seal.

During the course of his explanation he removed his hitai-ite, revealing an olive green design on his forehead.

Naruto's eyes widened as the seal on Neji's forehead was revealed to him. Neji was much like him, he realized, having been branded at an early age with a destiny he did not want.

Neji the went on telling Naruto about the day Neji had received the seal, when Kumo had vied for peace, only to double cross Konoha in an attempt to steal the Byakugan by kidnapping the Hyuuga Heiress, Hinata, as well as the inner workings of the seal itself. Next, came the death of his father and his reason for despising the Main Family of the Hyuuga Clan. Neji's Byakugan automatically activated towards the end of his story due to the emotions running through him. The anger, the sadness, and years of resentment all building towards a pinnacle of frustration and grief.

"And in this match, your fate was decided when I became your opponent," said Neji "Fate says you will lose, and THAT I can guarantee."

And Neji ignoring the fireballs headed his way leaped at the real Naruto , Naruto just sighed and waited till Neji was close enough and threw a flash bomb right in his face, Neji who was having the Byakugan at his maximum power got a bright flash and screamed closing his eyes

Naruto seeing the opening kicked him upward and one of his clones kicked him up into the air shouted "**U**"

And two clones hit him in the ribs and sent him horizontally to the side and said"**ZU"**

And a clone appeared in his path with two hands clenched send him downstairs with a powerful blow and shouted **"MA"**

Three clones appeared here and one gave a punch to the face while the other gave a punch to the chest and the last gave a punch to the stomach simultaneously and shouted "**KI" **while sending him back to the real Naruto

The real Naruto gave a devastating mid kick and shouted "**NARUTO RENDAN"**

And watched Neji skidding along the arena floor and come to rest along the arena, he walked up to him and saw Neji struggling to focus his eyes and asked him" How did you…."

"Like I said Neji, I will show everyone why your skills are meaningless, everyone knows about the famous Hyuuga's all seeing eyes and how it is better than everyone else, I will fully agree with that but they are stupid to figure out while your eyes are greater than normal eyes so are their weakness, the all seeing eyes have the power to see through Genjutsu and see chakra that means it is more powerful and sensitive than normal eyes so bright light or sudden flash are all needed to disable you when the Byakugan is used at the fullest"

Naruto looked into Neji's eyes and continued "see Neji what you consider your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness"

Genma got out of his shock and yelled "Winner of Fight 1 is Naruto Uzumaki" while the crowd started to cheer like crazy

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In the judges stand

"hmm, impressive he used good strategy and battle tactics to find his opponent weakness and use it against him, very impressive"said one of the judges

"Indeed Chunnin level material" said another judge

"We should keep an eye on him to see what all other tricks he has" said a third judge

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In the stands

Sakura and Ino were discussing how Naruto can be this strong and were wondering if he was always this strong

Chouji meanwhile was smiling at the Naruto seeing him smile as the crowd was cheering for him, he remembered at the hospital

**Flashback:**

"Hey! Chouji!"

The Akimichi looked up and was surprised to see Naruto in the window. "Thought I'd stop by and pay you a visit, sorry for using the window but the doctors don't like me much here for some reason."

Chouji nodded and let the blonde in, noticing he had a scroll with him, "What's that?"

Naruto grinned and put the scroll on the floor, unrolling it and rubbing some blood across it. When the smoke cleared, two ramen bowls

"Knowing you, you're sick of the crap they're feeding you here," Naruto noted, "so I figured I'd treat you to an Ichirakui super sized rib deluxe." He smirked at the Gennin, "You're favorite right?"

Chouji stared at the massive bowl of sweet, rameny goodness, before turning an awestruck face towards the blonde. "I love you."

Naruto snickered, "Steady there, I'm not your type." He patted him on the shoulder, "Besides, I make a terrible cook, so there's nothing to see in me anyway."

Chouji snorted, and the two performed the ramen worshipping ritual of snapping chopsticks, slurping the noodles, and downing the heavenly broth with much gusto.

**End Flashback**

The food was enough to elevate Naruto to God like status in the genin's mind, and he promptly added him to the 'Protect with everything I have' list, right under Shikamaru as he too felt like Shikamaru that Naruto has no fault for his furry little problem and had even convinced some clansmen of his to eat at Ichirakui to make them a good cash and so far it was going good.

TenTen was in shock, Neji was the strongest Gennin she knew, yet he was easily defeated by Naruto, she knew he was powerful but not enough to defeat Neji of all people

Kakashi thought"_ it seems even without my help you have grown strong, I hope that you will reconsider your decision on leaving the team, I had to help Sasuke, I truly and sorry for leaving you but I am sorry"_

In the fighters stand,

Lee thought"_ YOSH Naruto has proved that he is the epitome of hard work, our youthful battle will be glorious"_

Shikamaru"_ that guy troublesome"_

Gaara "_mother is asking for your blood Uzumaki she wants it more than the Uchiha's blood, what is about you that scares her, with your death I will prove my existence"_

Sasuke thought"_ you have grown strong dobe but I am stronger than you, with your defeat I will prove that I am one step closer to kill HIM"_

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Meanwhile,

The medical team had finally left the arena. _"I wonder what surprise this next match will bring."_ Genma thought. "I ask all the participants of the second match, Uchiha Sasuke and Sabaku no Gaara, please come down to the arena." Genma exclaimed.

Immediately, sand started to spin around Gaara, the redhead disappeared to later reappear standing in the middle of arena, many people in the audience shivered at the insane smile that he's face wore.

Sasuke was finally able to stop shaking. The black haired Uchiha looked back at the blond by the wall, for a fraction of a second, without saying a word, the black haired Gennin jumped into the arena and started to walk towards his opponent.

As soon as the Uchiha came into view, many of the spectators found their voice. The talk started right away, some talk about how true Konoha elite would show everyone what a real Shinobi is all about, a number were wondering how he would defeat the sand-nin.

Genma waited until Sasuke reached the center. When it became apparent that there would not be any thrash-talk between the two Gennins, Genma raised his arm. "The second match of the finals is about to begin. Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku Gaara" The Jounin looked at the two boys beside him. _"I hope we're ready for this."_ He thought before he brought his hand down. "Commence!"

In less than a second, a stream of sand shot out of Gaara's gourd straight towards Sasuke. Moving quickly, the Uchiha jumped back out of the way, the sand seemed to bounce back from the ground and chase the black haired Gennin.

Sasuke kept moving back and dodging until he reached the sand. The Sharingan user jumped to his right as the stream of sand crushed the place he had been standing. As soon as Sasuke's feet touch the ground, the Uchiha ran towards the redhead, he hadn't gotten half way through when a wall of sand had already formed in front of him.

Gathering chakra in his feet, the black haired boy jumped out of the sand's reach. The leap was strong enough to land at the same distance he had been from Gaara, but on the other side.

The redhead was starting to get irritated; his hands went through a series of signs as he glared at Sasuke. "**DESERT COFFIN**" The sand-nin said. Immediately, the sand around him shot into the air, just to drop towards the Uchiha at an incredible speed. The raven haired boys started to move at an incredibly speed to dodge the descending shots of sand.

"Kakashi, you…" Gai begun as he looked at his comrade.

The copy-nin merely sighed. "The only way that he could beat Gaara's defense, was to use to move of the one that he had copied." The gray haired man stated.

Gai's eyes narrowed. "And he achieved it in three months?" The Jounin asked.

"He was only able to imitate his movie." Kakashi begun to explain. "But there was no way that he would be able to duplicate Lee's speed."

The answer surprised Gai. "But I could have sworn that he just…" The eccentric Jounin stopped as he noticed that his rival had lower his head slightly, realization hit the black haired man. "Is his body able to endure it?" He asked.

Down at the arena, Sasuke had been dodging all of the sand shots that were coming violently from above. _"Now!"_ As he saw an opening, taking out a kunai tied with an exploding tag, the Uchiha threw it towards Gaara.

Immediately, the sand stopped the kunai, but it couldn't prevent the explosion created by it.

Gaara had been protected by the sand, but the blast had raised a cloud of smoke, preventing the redhead from seeing anything. Unexpectedly, the sand shot forward, startling the sand-nin. _"Did he decide to attack?_" He wondered.

Suddenly, the redhead heard a sound, his head turn slightly and his eyes widened, he could see the leaf-nin finishing a set of symbols. "**Katon Fire Blast Technique**!" Sasuke exclaimed as a blast of fire came from his mouth towards the sand-nin.

Fortunately for Gaara, the sand had blocked the fire Jutsu before it had a chance to connect. The redhead willed the sand to attack the raven haired boy, driving the Konoha Gennin back into the wall, the sand returned to the sand nin.

"_Good, I have him on the defensive."_ The Uchiha thought. Sasuke was about to move forward when he felt a jolt of intense pain on his leg. "Not yet…" He whispered to himself as his eyes drifted to look at his teammate in the participant's balcony.

– **Flashback **–

Sasuke was panting as he struggle to stay up. No matter how hard he tried, he wasn't able to achieve the same speed that, according to Kakashi, Lee had used. "It seems you can't reach Lee's speed." The grey haired shinobi said.

The raven haired Uchiha glared at his sensei for stating the obvious.

"Well, it seems that we would have to use something else." Kakashi said. The look of irritating in Sasuke's face make seem as thought he were about to attack his teacher. "Naruto" The jounin said without even acknowledging the glare from his student.

Immediately, Sasuke's face had a look of confusion, the single mentioning of his teammates name caused the prodigy to start wondering what had happened to the blond. Ever since the start of the Chuunin Exam, Sasuke's mind had not stop trying to figure out what was going on with Naruto and how strong he is becoming.

Without looking at the younger shinobi, Kakashi continued. "Remember back during the bell test and the first time we face Zabuza?" The grey haired man asked. Kakashi waited for Sasuke to nod before carrying on. "For a single moment, during both occasions, Naruto show a moment of incredible brightness, in which he was actually able to take Zabuza and me by surprise." The copy nin said.

A frown formed on Sasuke's face. "And what does that have to do with everything?" The raven haired boy asked.

"I'm getting to that." Kakashi said, it seemed to the Uchiha that his sensei was enjoying the fact that he was building suspense. "In both of those occasions, nobody expected that from Naruto, we all made assumptions according of what we have observed from him, and were unaware of the potential he had." The grey haired shinobi explained. "And that's how you can get pass Gaara's sand defense."

The Uchiha recounted his sensei's speech in his mind, but as much as he tried, he was unable to see the connection between Naruto and him bypassing the Gaara's defenses.

At the look of confusion in his student's face, Kakashi decided to explain even further. "Gaara's sand reacts according to motion. you have to lure the sand and, at the last second, boost your speed for a single moment in order to get pass it. Just like in Naruto's cases, Gaara would not expect it." Kakashi stopped for a second to make sure that the younger nin understood. "But I do have to warn you, using this type of strategy would cause a heavy burden on your body." He warned.

Sasuke remind silent as he analyzed everything that his teacher had said. _"Just like Naruto…?"_

– **End Flashback** –

The raven haired boy dashed towards the sand nin. The sand move forward in response but missed the Sharingan user by less than half an inch. _"How was he able to dodge it?!"_ Gaara thought as Sasuke merely side stepped the streams of sand.

Without halting his run once, Sasuke reached the redhead, driving his fist to the side of the sand nin's face.

The other genin's punch was strong enough to lift Gaara from the ground and flying back. Due to the attacks' force, Gaara's body turned in the air, the redhead could see the sand already coming to catch him, but before that could happen, Sasuke appeared in front of him, hitting him across the face with his forearm and sending the sand nin crashing facedown into the ground.

Gaara hit the ground so hard that the impact caused him to bounce back up into the air. Immediately, the redhead felt an extreme jolt of pain from his side as Sasuke kicked him on his side, sending the redhead flying away once more.

"_Now!"_ Sasuke shouted in his mind as he released on of the binding in his left hand.

Sasuke hands flashed through hand signs at Jounin speed as he gathered his chakra. The crowd gasped as the raven haired genin's chakra became visible in the form of lighting. "You thought him that…?" Gai said to his comrade, he disbelieved what he was seen.

"**Chidori**!" Sasuke shouted as he launched himself forward.

_Chick, chick, chick, chick, chick_

The sound of birds engulfed the stadium. Gaara willed his sand to stop the leaf nin, but just like before, the raven haired boy was able to sidestepped in the last second possible. As a last act of desperation, the redhead raised four walls of sand in front of him.

Brining his left arm forward, the Uchiha rammed through the first two walls. _"It's not you…"_ Kakashi's responds drifted back into his mind as he broke through the third wall.

"_I will win this match. Naruto, just wait, I will be your opponent for the second round!"_ Sasuke declared as he closed his left hand into a fist and punched the last wall.

At the sign of his last defense been taken out, Gaara jumped back trying to get away from the leaf nin's chakra-charged fist. Gaara was able to get away when the raven haired boy's fist was less than an inch from his chest.

Sasuke was panting; he mentally cursed himself for not driving his punch a little longer and put an end to the match once and for all. Looking up as his opponent landed away from him, the Uchiha was taken back by the insane smile in the sand nin's face.

The gourd on Gaara's back fell; the raven haired genin's attack had cut what attached it to the redhead's back. As soon as the gourd fell to the ground, it dissolved into sand. "**Desert Coffin**!" The sand nin shouted as he brought his hand together into a sign.

Immediately, the sand surrounding him started to encase Sasuke's body

As he was going to clench his hand the Procter shouted "ENOUGH, this match is over, winner is Sabakuu Garra"

Gaara snarled at this but he looked at the blonde who was clenching his fists and glaring at him, Gaara smirked at him and dropped Sasuke who was knocked out cold due to the pressure on his body

The crowd was in shock as their beloved Uchiha was defeated and started murmuring among themselves.

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"I am not happy that you just let your student copy all the techniques that Lee had worked hard to master Kakashi" said Gai in a serious face not looking like him at all

"I am not happy either Gai, I gave him an earful for copying his comrade's ability but it would seem it did not reach him" said Kakashi in a remorseful tone as he shook his head

"Control your student Kakashi I have a bad feeling about him" said Gai turning back to the stands

Kakashi just nodded his head and started to think the outcome of Naruto's match with Lee

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Genma announced "the third match is about to proceed, will be Kankuro Subaku against Aburame Shino," Hayate called out.

Shino moved down to the floor of the arena and was waiting for Kankuro to show up when

Kankuro said" I GIVE UP Proctor"

Genma gave a confused Glance towards the sang Gennin and said

"Winner, Aburame Shino."

The crowd applauded politely but not too enthusiastically. There was no action here due to Kankuro giving up

Shino narrowed his eyes and made his way back to the observation deck.

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Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at the Sand ninja 'That Sand ninja was not fighting yet he has come in full battle mode and insisted on not showing that much ability. Something is wrong here.'

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"Next match. Naka Shikamaru against Temari Subaku," Genma called out.

"I wonder if I also can forfeit this troublesome fight" muttered Shikamaru

"Shikamaru, what are you doing here, you must go and fight" yelled a over enthusiastic Naruto as he pushed Shikamaru off the stands to the arena floor, muttering about troublesome blondes Shikamaru gave Naruto a lazy glare as he got up and walked down to the arena floor while still thinking about the Sand ninja. This was going to be troublesome. He glanced up at the sky. It was nearly noon with very few clouds in the sky. Few shadows existed in the arena for him to manipulate.

"You ready for this lazy?" Temari asked as she opened her fan.

"Whatever." Shikamaru answered with a yawn.

The crowd was less then appreciative of Shikamaru's attitude. After witnessing two amazing fights, they were eager for more. To have Kankuro forfeit and then have a fight involving a seemingly lazy ninja, they were understandably upset. They began to boo and called for a real fight.

"This is so troublesome." Shikamaru commented as he looked around to see the crowd booing him.

"Well, let's give them a show! **Ninja art: cutting whirlwind!**" Temari yelled as she swung her fan and a large wind attack blew toward Shikamaru.

After the wind attack dissipated Shikamaru was nowhere to be found.

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" Temari said in a sing song tone, her smirk never wavering.

Shikamaru looked at Temari from his hiding spot in one of the trees in the stadium. He had to admit that he was not looking forward to this fight, actually he was not looking forward to any of his fight, and it wasn't that he wanted to win or that he wanted to become a Chunnin. Truth be told, neither of those things intrigued him at all. Normally he found any woman to be far too troublesome to deal with, and Temari was certainly troublesome. However, there was something about this fight that intrigued Shikamaru. Temari was very intelligent, and actually posed something of a challenge to his intelligence. She posed an interesting puzzle for Shikamaru and if there was one thing that Shikamaru liked it was puzzles.

'Still, fighting her out right is troublesome as well as stupid.' Shikamaru thought.

Temari was standing in the middle of the ring, wondering where Shikamaru was hiding and what he was planning. She assumed that he was simply trying to hide, but she knew that the pineapple head was very intelligent and had something in store.

'_Now if I were him, where would I hide_?' She thought.

Her answer came in the form of a rapidly moving shadow that emerged from the trees and was closing in on her. Temari jumped back, and for a moment thought she was safe. This is until it connected with the shadow created by one of the numerous trees present in the arena. The shadow extended and Temari had to leap back once again to avoid being caught. The shadow strained and finally retreated.

'That was too close.' Temari thought with a breath of relief. She could send an attack into the trees, but she had another idea. Instead of luring Shikamaru out, she would let him stay there. She looked around and took note of every upturned rock and stone and tree that left a shadow that could be used by Shikamaru. After copying their location to memory she decided on a plan.

Shikamaru gazed at Temari with a critical look. He hadn't expected his attack to work. He had simply wanted to see how she would react. That she didn't let her guard down even now and seemed to be thinking instead of just reacting let Shikamaru know that she was very intelligent.

'This is like a shougi game against a worthy opponent.' Shikamaru thought. He had never lost a game of shougi, and he didn't plan to lose now.

Temari then did something he was not expecting. She put her fan away and calmly began to walk toward the trees.

'What's she thinking?' Shikamaru thought. She obviously knew about his shadow technique and she also knew that he could use other shadows to lengthen his own.

Temari continued to walk toward the trees in a confident stride. She knew what she was doing was dangerous, but she had an idea and wanted to see if it would work.

Sure enough, Shikamaru's shadow once again extended toward her. She ran back and began to weave between the upturned rocks and stones. The shadow used them all to come closer and closer to her. Temari gave a small smirk as she saw the shadow stop, however she could tell something wasn't right. Her suspicions were proven correct when she saw a second shadow extending toward her from the opposite direction.

'He split his shadow?!' Temari thought as she leapt clear in desperation. She had walked to his hiding spot for the simple reason that she wanted him to try and catch her. She had moved between the stones so that she could get an idea of just how far his shadow could reach. Then she could breakdown the length it gained from each shadow and pinpoint his exact location. A wide spread attack would have flushed him out but she didn't want to risk him finding somewhere else to hid, especially if he decided to hid behind one of the larger stones.

Shikamaru looked at Temari and felt his respect for her go up. She had put herself in harm's way to see the extent of his shadow attack. It was a classic gambit's move in shogi and her willingness to gamble was interesting.

'Still, she knows I'm in the trees, and is only trying to figure out where. I could move, but I don't want to risk the chance that she'll see me. Maybe I should try and head for the rocks.' Shikamaru thought.

That plan was literally blown away when Temari used her wind attack to blast the rocks and stones away from her.

'That's not good.' Shikamaru thought. With those gone she could stand there and not worry about him blind sighting her. She now had a safe haven to retreat to whenever she wanted. Shikamaru sighed as he put his hands in a strange symbol and seemed to be concentrating.

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"Well this fight is actually a lot more interesting than I initially thought." Shino said.

"Indeed but i know that pose anywhere, he will be thinking a dozen stradegy about now" Naruto agreed.

"What do you mean?" Shino said.

"Shikamaru has something special planned for her, I just know it." Naruto said as he and Shino continued to watch the fight.

Kankuro was thinking along similar lines. He had forfeited because he didn't want the modifications of his doll, Crow, seen until the surprise attack on Konoha. He was surprised that it had been pushed back a bit, but he was even more surprised when Temari had been so eager to fight. His older sister was always a hot head and never shied away from a fight. However, he knew his sister to be a prideful woman and just won't quit even if there is an invasion planned

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Shikamaru had ended his meditation and had a plan that he was sure would provide him a victory. However, he didn't exactly like the way the plan had to be completed. He sighed in annoyance and calmly walked out of the security of the trees.

Temari looked on in surprise that Shikamaru had left his hiding spot. Not only that but he was walking toward her in a very casual pace.

'What's he up to?' Temari thought as she did a very quick look around to make sure his shadow was nowhere close to her.

"You really are troublesome." Shikamaru said with a sigh of annoyance.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Temari said with a hint of anger.

Shikamaru didn't replay; he simply took a deep breath and ran full speed toward Temari.

Temari, Chouji, Naruto and just about everyone who knew Shikamaru were stunned stupid for a moment at the sight of him running.

Temari shook herself out of it when she had to dodge 5 kunai thrown by the shadow user. She had to stay on her toes as Shikamaru made his signature hand signs and his shadow raced toward her. She jumped away as the shadow continued to chase after her. It stopped suddenly and Temari let out a breath of relief. However when she looked to Shikamaru to gloat a bit she noticed that his jacket was missing. She looked up and saw that he had made a small kite from his jacket to caste an additional shadow for his shadow to use. The shadow extended and Temari was once again on the run. She hated to retreat but she knew that to be caught would be the end of the match. When the shadow reached its limit again, she looked at Shikamaru and gave him a smile.

"Looks like your little plan didn't work lazy." She said as she did a few calculations in her head. She was a very good tactician as well and by the time she was finished she had determined the limit of his shadow as long as he remained in that position.

"Check." Shikamaru said simply with a smile of his own.

Temari looked at him strangely until she heard a sizzling sound. She finally noticed that the five kunai he threw earlier were surrounding her. They had explosive tags on them.

'Crap!' she thought as they exploded. They weren't close enough to harm her, but they did cause a massive dust cloud that obscured her vision.

She frantically looked toward the ground and sure enough his shadow once again came for her. Once again she was dodging the quick shadow. She tripped over a stone she couldn't see and the shadow raced toward her.

'How is he tracking me?!' She thought in desperation as the shadow continued toward her. Much to her joy and relief, the shadow reached its limit an inch in front of her. She jumped up quickly as the shadow retreated.

'Okay I have to figure out how to beat him.' Temari thought. While she knew she could continue to dodge him until he ran out of chakra, she wasn't sure she could continue to dodge the quick shadow and the obviously intelligent mind of Shikamaru.

'First priority is to get rid of this dust!' Temari thought as she prepared to blow away the dust.

"Checkmate."

Temari was horrified to find that she couldn't move. She was frozen and couldn't move a single part of her body.

The dust settled and Shikamaru walked up behind her casually.

"**Shadow Possession Jutsu**, success." He said with a smirk as he observed the frozen ninja.

"H-how did you follow me in the dust cloud?" Temari asked

"I didn't. I'll let you look around." He said as he turned his head from one side to another. Temari could see that Shikamaru hadn't moved from his beginning position. He had effectively led her right to his position!

"I made the dust cloud to distract you, obviously. Afterwards I sent my shadow into the cloud and lead you back to this position. After that all I had to do was cancel the Jutsu and immediately restart it. You were so concerned with my attack that you didn't pay attention to where you were being led to." Shikamaru explained.

"But how could you tell where I would go?" Temari asked in disbelief.

"Simple, I just memorized the way you moved before. That's why I used my jacket as a parachute to make you react, as well as put you into position for the dust cloud. I didn't need to see you to know how you would move." He said with a yawn. He lifted his hand in the air.

The entire crowd was stunned. Though this fight was not nearly as flashy or action packed as the earlier ones, the crowd had to admit that it was just as interesting to see. The two Gennin were truly great tacticians. The crowd was on the edge of their seats to see what Shikamaru would do now.

'I can't believe this! I only got off one attack and then he was able to catch me!' Temari thought in disbelief. She knew that she was one of the best strategists in the sand village, even at her young age. She now knew with absolute certainty that Shikamaru was above and beyond her.

She watched as he raised his hand and hers by default in the air.

'Is he going to make me give up?' Temari thought in confusion. She studied him for a moment and made a decision. She may not be able to move, but she was able to control her own destiny.

"Procter I give up" Shikamaru began.

"WHAT!" Temari said loudly.

"What?!" Genma and a majority of the crowd shouted.

Chouji and Naruto just sighed at this knowing their friend he was bound to do something like this.

"Ooookay, the winner of the match is Sabakuu Temari." Genma announced to the stunned crowd

Temari just stood there in shock at being declared the winner. She was brought out of it by Genma waving her off the arena floor. She slowly walked up the stairs in a confused state.

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In the stands

Naruto was calmly looking at Shikamaru as he walked right past him. "You know Shikamaru! You had her beat. All you had to do was knock her out!"

Shikamaru looked at Naruto then over at Shino. Shino looked back as Shikamaru raised one eyebrow and twisted his head a bit. He caught Shino's nearly imperceptible nod and casually walked up the stairs

"You know she was holding back right" Shikamaru muttered so it won't be heard by others

"been wondering about that it is kinda fishy that Kankuro who always picks a fight just forfeits and a hot headed girl holds back a lot in the fight, then yes I know something is fishy" answered back Naruto keeping his gaze on Gaara who seems to be muttering to himself

"Something is going to happen here and sand is involved "said Shikamaru as he looked around

"Hmmm I wonder though is it coincidence that Orichimaru happened to be here in the second exam and the sand sending a psychotic Gennin who is nearly at elite Jounin level in power" mused Naruto

"You don't think that they are planning something do you" asked Shino quietly

"Maybe but I do know that it has something to with Gaara and we need to defeat him as he could be a problem if anything occurs" said Naruto with a serious tone

Shino and Shikamaru simply nodded at this and turned back to the arena

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Sarutobi was watching the matches closely. He noticed Shikamaru having a serious discussion with Shino and Naruto and Naruto was looking grim. '. Something is going on.' He gestured to Genma and sent a message down to the floor.

"There will be a 15 minute intermission before the next match between Rock Lee and Uzumaki Naruto," Hayate announced. A good portion of the crowd cheered while many flooded to the refreshment stands and to take care of other personal business.

The third read Shikamaru lips and then read Naruto

The thirds eyes got wide a moment and thought "_so that is your plan Orichimaru."_ And started to give discrete orders to his Anbu Guards

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"For the first match up of the quarter finals of the Final Round of the Chunnin Selection Exam... Uzumaki Naruto vs. Rock Lee!" shouted Genma. Already people were cheering as Naruto had beaten Neji a few hours prior and Rock Lee was Neji's teammate. The next match promised to be a very exciting on to say the least.

"Yosh! I can not wait to face my new eternal rival!" shouted Rock Lee excitedly, "We will see who the true genius of hard work is!"

Every one sweat dropped at Lee's excitement. Naruto did the one thing he could think of, "Uh, Lee... You say something?" Lee's mouth literally hit the ground as he then ranted on about Naruto's hip ways that he had inherited from his sensei. This of course caused everyone to sweat drop a second time.

"Say Lee how about we go all out, no weights" asked Naruto dropping all his chakra weights creating an impressive crater

"Very well Naruto, let us show them the battle of hard work" yelled Lee also dropping his weights and still creating a larger crater than in the prelims

"_Well this will be a battle to see"_ thought Gai and Kakashi together

"Yes let us show them what the battle of dead last is like" smirked Naruto

"The fight between Lee and Naruto………..COMMENCE" shouted Genma and quickly fled the arena

A second later, the two Gennins disappeared. A huge shockwave surged from the center of the arena followed by a small crater being formed. Next, came the reappearance of Naruto and Lee, both of their right forearms pushing against each other and they soon disappeared

Sound, sound was the only thing that alerted most of the audience that a match was underway. Those who had not train as a Shinobi could only hear the clash of metal that indicated that the two boys had taken out weapons. Even some of the nins among the crowd were having problems following the fight, all they saw were blurs from time to time, and an image of the two Gennins when their momentum was broken every time their attacks met.

The two Gennins finally stopped in the middle of the arena, kunai against kunai, each boy tried to push the other. _"How much strength are they putting in each blow"_ Kakashi wondered as he watched them from the audience, their cloths were starting to become ragged from the backlash of their attacks.

"_Just as I expected"_ Naruto thought as he stood in his ground. _"We're about the same in armed combat"_ The blond concluded as he recalled what has happened during their exchange of blows, he had tried to attack every place where he had seen a shadow of an opening, and he was sure that Lee had done the same, yet none of their attacks came close as the other's blade was right there to stop the blow. _"Let's make this interesting"_

Lee brought his hands back, while still holding onto Naruto's. Naruto was knocked off balance and Lee drove his right knee to Naruto's torso, and then followed up with a left knee to Naruto's face. Naruto's head snapped back and he and Lee released each other's hands. Lee then went to finish up with a devastating axe kick, which Naruto narrowly avoided and then charged at each other again and they met in a dead lock with one trying to overpower the other.

"Your effort is admirable Naruto-kun, but you can not hope to beat me in a pure Taijutsu match," grunted Lee.

Naruto said "you forgot something Lee" as he opened his palm right at Lee's face and said "**Futon-Gale wind palm**" and blasted Lee away from him and said "are you still up for this Lee" taking an offensive stance

Lee's response was a simple smile as he got up somewhat stiffly.

Naruto charged and gave a powerful uppercut. Lee dodged doing a back flip. Naruto swung and kicked at Lee, but he was able to dodge the attacks, every now and then countering Naruto's fast attacks. Naruto managed to dodge or parry most of Lee's attacks, though a few connected, if only just barely. After a short exchange, the two combatants broke apart

"You're good," said Naruto smiling.

"You are not too bad either," said a smiling Lee.

Naruto ran left, Lee's movements were parallel to Naruto's.

Naruto threw three kunai at Lee, who slid to a stop to dodge the projectiles.

Lee jumped back and did three back flips as Naruto attacked from above. But Lee was to late to dodge it, He landed a solid blow to Lee's stomach with his elbow and went to follow up with a strong uppercut, but Lee dodged, grabbing Naruto by the wrist and kneeing Naruto in the gut, before flipping the blonde Gennin into the air. Naruto flipped in mid air and landed deftly on his feet.

No sooner than when Naruto landed was he knocked off his feet by a solid blow to his sternum by Lee.

He shakily stood up to see Lee charging at him.

Lee became a green tornado flurry of punches and kicks. Naruto was barely able to keep up with the movements of Rock Lee.

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"Wow," said Ten-Ten impressed, "I'm not sure if Neji could react that quickly to Lee's movements."

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It soon became who had the obvious advantage as Lee began to drive Naruto back. The blonde prospective Chunnin was kept on the defensive as he attempted to dodge and block each attack that rapidly came his way.

Lee managed to score a solid kick to Naruto's sternum and Naruto was certain he felt bones crack under the strain of Lee's kick. For perhaps the first time since finding out about the Kyuubi being contained inside of him, he was glad of the fact that the Yondaime had chosen him to contain the powerful beast. Now if he could only counter Lee. What he did next, was both one of the most brilliant and stupidest things he'd ever done.

As Lee came in for another powerful kick, Naruto didn't dodge in time, taking the full attack dead on.

Naruto's head snapped back as both Ino and Sakura shouted "NARUTO!"

Lee felt a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach as he watched Naruto tumble away in a disheveled heap. He looked on with wide eyes as Naruto laid there unmoving.

Genma looked at the unmoving Naruto a bit sadly before shaking his head. "The winner of this match..."

"I'm not done yet..." shouted a familiar voice as Naruto slowly stood up, massaging his neck. "Damn... There is no way I'm letting you do THAT again..." He was still a little wobbly on his feet

"Yosh! I see that even a blow like that could not extinguish your Flames of Youth!" Lee said excitedly as not only was Naruto alright, but the fight was not over. Lee then went into the Goken stance again.

"Oh no," said Naruto, "I already let you get close to me and take the advantage using only Taijutsu. I'm not going to let that happen again." As he said this, He then made the familiar cross hand seal. "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu**!"

One Naruto became three, which in turn became nine, nine became twenty clones

"Alright Lee!" they all shouted in unison, "Let's see what you've got!"

One of the Narutos charged at Lee and engaged him in a small bout of Taijutsu, but was quickly defeated.

Lee didn't have time to rest as another jumped into the fray with a spinning heel kick, which he promptly ducked. Before Lee could counter the Bunshin's attack, it was pulled away by a third Naruto and he was attacked by a fourth and a fifth one in tandem.

Lee was able to easily dispatch one, but the other was quickly pulled out of the way of the Beautiful Blue Beast's axe kick, as three others moved in to attack. The first of the three attacked with a rapid flurry of punches, before jumping back as the second one attacked with an axe kick of it's own, which Lee dodged completely only to be attacked by the third one, which managed to get in a few glancing blows in before Lee demolished it.

Another Naruto charged doing handed seals. He then threw his hands out to the sides, palms open, facing Lee. "**Raiton-Electric palms Jutsu**"

Both hands burst into the familiar electricity and Naruto unleashed a flurry of punching combos in an effort to subdue the Taijutsu Specialist. True to his speed and flexibility training, he was able to dodge them all, though there were a few close calls. Lee was able to dispel the Kage Bunshin with a powerful kick.

"**Katon- Fireball Jutsu**!" Lee barely had enough time to look behind him as he jumped out of the way of the massive basketball sized flames.

"You are a very formidable opponent Naruto-kun," said Lee landing, breathing hard. "But I am afraid I must end this, **First Gate Open Gate, Release**!" The few Naruto Bunshins that were running at Lee were blown back by a shockwave of power." Lee then disappeared.

"Crap I forgot..." said one of the Narutos before turning into a puff of smoke. Each of the Narutos began to disappear, but Lee was still too fast, and he kicked the real Naruto into the arena wall.

"Well that was one heck of a kick" said Naruto as he got up from the wall stumbling a little and said "I forgot about those gates as you can get extra speed and strength from them, but I did prepare for it"

"Oh and how do you plan on defeat me then Naruto" Said Lee in a curious voice

"Like this" said Naruto with a confident smirk as he put his hand in a ram sea and started to collect chakra from him and said "Consider it as a Honor Lee this is the first time I am using it in battle since I started to develop it for the last 7 months

"Oh what is it then" asked Lee

Naruto just gave a smirk and said "**Uzumaki Naruto's Forbidden Style-Flash Step"**

And promptly vanished appearing in front of Lee and started to play pinball on him with his speed. Lee effectively started to block but Naruto's speed was too high so

"**Second Gate Energy Gate, Release**" shouted Lee. The pupils of his eyes dilated to a level that they could no longer be seen as power once again coursed through his body but still was not enough to get him Naruto managed to catch him and place a chochhold on him and said"Give up Lee,"

Lee's answer was

"**Third Gate Life Gate... RELEASE**!" shouted Lee as the Naruto behind him was blown back. Lee's skin turned red as chakra swirled around him.

"SH*T..." growled a Naruto, "If he keeps this up, there is no way he'll be able to even move after this match let alone compete in this stupid tournament... I better end this quickly..."

"Naruto-kun, you are truly the embodiment of the Flames of Youth," said Lee, who promptly ducked as a Kunai of a Naruto slashed the air his torso had been. Lee spun around and punched Narutowho avoided it by jumping back to evade another punch from Lee

Lee then jumped towards the Naruto, spinning.

"**Konoha Raiken**!" he shouted as he drove his fist into the attacking Naruto and backhanded him but Naruto appeared before him in moments and sent him flying with an axe kick

"It is time to finish this Naruto-kun!" shouted Lee as he shakily stood up, Naruto stood by defensive stance as lee charged forward, then suddenly Naruto flash stepped in front of lee and then shouted, "**Kage Bunshin Jutsu**!"

Naruto slammed his fist into Lee's gut, "**U**!"

The next Naruto then jumped on that one's back doing a back flip, kicking Lee in the face. "**ZU**!"

A third seemed to fly through the air between the first and second Narutos, driving his fist into Lee's gut. "**MA"**

He followed with an uppercut. "**KI**!"

Lee was sent into the air towards another waiting Naruto, who hit Lee with a powerful jab in his back "**NA**!"

Lee went crashing into a fifth Naruto who caught Lee across the face with a powerful scissor kick, "**RU**"

Lee then went soaring into a sixth Naruto who had his hand enveloped in Electric chakra. He landed a powerful palm strike into Lee face, shouting, "**TO**"

Sending him straight back in the opposite direction towards the fifth Naruto who merely backhanded Lee.

"**RENDAN**!" he shouted.

"The Winner of this Mat-" started Genma.

"WAIT!" shouted Lee, struggling to stand.

"N-no way!" said Naruto in shock.

"Naruto-kun, it's time we gave this all we've got," said Lee, "You are a most Youthful opponent, and even though I will not be able to continue after this match- win or lose- it was an honor to fight you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto's eyes widened in realization.

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Ten-ten shouted, "Lee, don't do it!" She had a frigthened expression on her face.

"Wh-what's going on... Ten-Ten-san?" asked Hinata worriedly.

"Despite his strength and speed advantage, Naruto is still pushing Lee to his limits," said Ten-Ten. "The Hachimon (Eight Gates), as you know, pushes a person beyond those limits, but at a terrible price. It will still wreak havoc all over his body,hw will be barely able to handle the strain. Lee's ending this match, one way or another. He knows that since he's had the Life Gate open for so long he won't be able to fight again for a while after this, so he's going to do whatever he can to keep Naruto from advancing. He's going to open more gates and according to Gai-sensei Lee can use at least two more."

"B-but... Why?" asked Sakura.

"Isn't it obvious forehead girl?" asked Ino teasingly, "With the exception of Shika-kun over there, boys are competitive by nature. They always have to one up each other, always testing themselves to see who the best is. Look at the arena after both of Naruto's matches with both Neji and Lee. Even though Shikamaru didn't really do much damage to the arena, that Temari girl is big enough of a tomboy to do enough damage for the both of them."

Sakura frowned because she knew Ino was right. "People like Lee and Sasuke-kun are competitive enough as it is, without Naruto's help. When you think a person can't be anymore motivated, or get anymore competitive he'll surprise you every time. Naruto always brings out the best in a person, no matter who they are or what they've done." Sakura had a small smile on her face when she said it.

"I just hope Naruto and Lee will be alright after this," said Ten-Ten solemnly.

"Naruto.."muttered Hinata

"Troublesome..." Shikamaru sighed.

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"Lee, you're barely holding yourself together..." pleaded Naruto, "Don't do this..."

"I am sorry Naruto-kun, but I can not comply... **Fourth Gate Wound Gate, Release**" Lee was enveloped in green chakra which shot up in a column, as his skin seemed to turn redder. The winds seemed to wrap around the green clad Gennin as he prepared his attack. Closing his eyes in concentration he yelled out, "**FIFTH GATE LIMIT GATE... RELEASE**"

Shock struck through all of those who had knowledge of the Hachimon.

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"Astonishing... Not only is he able to use the Hachimon... But to open the fifth gate by force of sheer will..." commented the Kazekage, "A prime candidate for Chunnin provided that it doesn't have too many adverse affects on his body."

"I couldn't agree more Kazekage-Dono," commented Sarutobi, "I'm not sure that even his Jounin Sensei could accomplish a feat like that."

"Ah, so he trains under Maito Gai... I had expected as much, seeing the boy's Taijutsu and use of the Hachimon," said the Kazekage distastefully, "Not to mention the boy's horrid taste in fashion..."

Sarutobi chuckled, "Yes... Gai is definitely a... unique individual, however, his skills speak for themselves. It goes without saying that even though Lee can't use either Ninjutsu or Genjutsu, due to his condition, he will be a Shinobi who will one day achieve greatness that either rivals or surpasses that of his sensei."

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Lee's muscles tensed and tightened. They bulged and Naruto could see the veins in some of them become visible. To his own astonishment and that of others, he faded slowly from sight. Even the Hokage, Kazekage and Gai had a fairly difficult time following the enthusiastic Gennin.

Naruto's eyes widened in surprise. "Fast..." was all he could say before he exploded in a puff of smoke. Within the span of a second, all but one Naruto was turned to smoke.

"Konoha Shofu (Leaf Rising Wind)!" Lee shouted as he kicked Naruto in the face sending him sailing into the air. His bandages then began to unravel. "Kage Buyo (Shadow of the Dancing Leaf)!" Lee then disappeared to reappear right behind Naruto. His bandages wrapped themselves around Naruto binding him so he couldn't move. "Omote Renge (Front Lotus)!" Lee and Naruto flipped upside-down and started spinning rapidly.

Lee then separated from Naruto and flipped away as Naruto hit the ground head first only to explode in a puff of smoke. Lee looked shocked and stumbled a bit. It took his all to remain standing.

"Sorry Lee..." said Naruto from behind his fellow Konoha Gennin, "You've already proved someone can become great without Ninjutsu or Genjutsu. It's my turn to prove to the world that no matter what is thrown in my way, I will always win. Nothing will stand in my way to become Hokage so I can protect my precious people."

"How...?" Lee asked not turning around.

"You're like me... Too stubborn to give up, even when there is no chance of winning. I knew that you wouldn't let the Uzumaki Naruto Rendan keep you down, so I had my Kage Bunshin switch with me..."

_FLASH BACK_

"_Fast..." said the Kage Bunshin. Lee was moving faster than any of them could see. Suddenly smoke erupted all around the Kage Bunshin as Naruto was sent flying out of the smoke cloud at a much faster velocity than he thought possible. Naruto skid across the ground and hit the wall with great impact, but everyone's attention were on Lee and his Kage Bunshin, which he was barely able to keep up due to the pain from that last blow from Lee._

"_Konoha Shofu! Kage Buyo! Omote Renge!" shouted Lee._

_The Bunshin was difficult to maintain due to the strength of Lee's attacks, but Naruto somehow managed. He watched as his Kage Bunshin hit the ground. Hard. Even with the Kyuubi's influence, Naruto doubted even he would survive such a devastating move. Even if he wanted to, there was no way he could maintain the Kage Bunshin after that attack, so he moved behind Lee as the Bunshin puffed out of existence._

_END FLASH BACK_

"Most ingenious, Naruto-kun..." said Lee, his breathing heavily labored. "I look forward to fighting you again sometime..."

"As do I, Lee, as do I..." Naruto said softly as he hit Lee in the back of the neck, knocking him out. "He's down this time..." Naruto said to Genma, who nodded.

"The winner of this match-up... Uzumaki Naruto!" he shouted as the entire arena blew up with applause and cheering.

Naruto watched as the med-nins carried off Rock Lee with anticipation. "Lee, we'll definitely fight again sometime..."

Genma surveyed the arena.

"Those kids are really something, huh? Kakashi and Gai's students, as well as Asuma and Kurenai's, are definitely an exceptional bunch," said Genma to himself before shaking his head.

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Naruto made his way up to the waiting area where everyone else was and saw many gaping at him.

"Flash Step huh, only you can come up with such a name" commented Shikamaru

"Well you can try better when you invent any other Jutsu" retorted Naruto

"Troublesome" muttered Shikamaru and Shino just nodded his head at Naruto and turned back to the arena

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"Such power and speed they definitely qualify for Chunnin heck even Jounin will have a hard time with them" said a Chunnin judge

"Indeed and Naruto's battle tactics skill are nothing to underestimate he precisely knew when to do and what to do, definitely Chunnin that one" said the second Chunnin judge

"You know this is the best match I seen so far yet according to their reports these guys are supposed to be dead lasts" said the third Chunnin judge

The others snorted at this and simply shook their headsand simply waited for the next match to begin

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Up in the stands,

"_what the hell is that technique even I had a hard time seeing what was happening down there all I can see from that was he collected wind chakra around him and the guy was moving with insane speed with minimal effort, and his moves they are not the self trained ones either what the hell happened to you these two months Naruto"_thought Kakashi frowning at his apprentice

"_such a techniques he was on par with lee with his third gate and he was handling the directions so well and his Taijutsu all are different like some one had trained him but who could have trained to improve him this much in such short time"_ thought Gai as he went down to the med bay to check on both his student that was defeated by the blonde haired enigma

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Up in the Kage booth,

"Such a glorious battle, you have a great fighter there Sandaime Dono" said the Kazekage

Sarutobi just politely bowed and thought "_that technique is that the technique that he had told me he was working on, from his control I can say that he was handling it well but he still has way to go on that one. That flash step seems to be so much like the Hiraishin that it is very scary, but his level of control astounds me, Naruto said that his control of this technique was horrible and he needed atleast another year to fully master it yet here he is doing it in two months. No doubt about it some one had trained him and some one real good if he was able to make Naruto gain his trust and make him this strong, who is it I wonder"_

The next match IS between Uzumaki Naruto vs. Sabakuu Gaara

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Note

Reviews are accepted, please tell me your views on my story and any comments on the story


	9. Chapter 9

Naruto talking – "hello"

Demon and summon talking and Jutsu name- "**hello"**

Naruto thinking –"_what the heck"_

Demon and summon thinking –**_"what the heck"_**

Chapter 9:

"Will Uzumaki Naruto of Konohagakure no Sato and Sabakuu Gaara of Sunagakure no Sato please report to the fighting arena for the Chunnin Selection Exam Semi-Finals," asked Genma

The former had defeated perhaps the greatest prodigy in the esteemed "first" Noble clan of Konohagakure no Sato.

Hyuuga Neji.

Not to mention one of the best Taijutsu Specialists Konoha had ever produced since Maito Gai.

Rock Lee.

The latter had beaten the last scion of an equally prestigious, but dwindling, noble clan as the previously mentioned 'noble' Konoha Shinobi. Defeating him in front of all of his zealous supporters.

Uchiha Sasuke.

They shared the same fate. Destiny had conspired that their paths would cross. Both saddled with a burden they neither wanted nor needed. Hated by many, cherished by so few.

Monster. Demon. Jinchuuriki...

One was eventually accepted. Saved from his own darkness, making it his goal to protect those he held precious at all costs.

The other was cast down. Left alone to face his demons alone, his goal in life to eradicate all others to prove that only the strong deserved to live. To prove that love was but a mere illusion, becoming the monster the citizens of Sunagakure no Sato had believed him to be since the moment of his birth.

One was created from a sacrifice of love and dedication, from the need to protect.

"I am sorry... My son..."

The other, out of ambition and greed, from the need of power and status. Born out of hatred and malice.

"No one has ever truly loved you. Not even I, no matter how much I tried... This is it... Please... Die!"

One looked into the darkness, in fear, intimidated by the resurfacing feelings long forgotten.

The other stared into the light, in contempt, jealousy and hatred festering as others received the love he had been long denied.

The two combatants stood in the middle of the arena motionlessly.

Naruto was looking excited to be in facing the greatest opponent he had ever faced and proving his goal.

Gaara was looking rather apathetic, but the eager gleam in his eye was unmistakable. His sanity was barely contained.

Both fighting to prove their existence all the same reason for different result. Naruto wanted respect from his villagers while Gaara wants fear to prove his existence,

Brothers by pain and suffering, who shall win.

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"Hokage-Dono, this should prove to be a most interesting match," commented the Kazekage, "After all, both combatants have defeated two members of your most prestigious clans. The winner of this match could easily be decided as the winner of the whole tournament."

"Don't count out Aburame-kun just yet, Kazekage-Dono," said Sarutobi, "I agree that Gaara-kun and Naruto-kun are easily the most powerful Gennin left in the tournament, but if I know Naruto, win or lose, he will do his best to push Gaara past his limits. The both of them may not be even able to press on past this match making the Aburame match the final match deciding the Tournament."

The Kazekage chuckled, "Trust me, I don't foresee such an anti-climatic ending to such an explosive tournament."

"Know something I don't, Kazekage-Dono?" asked Sarutobi.

"Much," chuckled the Kazekage, Sarutobi did as well as they continued to watch the match and thought "_sure you do ……..my student"_.

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"I hope you all said your goodbyes," commented Sabakuu Kankuro. "The Gaki won't survive his match."

"You shouldn't underestimate Naruto, he's Konoha's most surprising Shinobi with good reason," said Kakashi.

"His funeral... Literally," said Kankuro.

"How can you say that so... Casually?" asked Sakura.

"Because we know Gaara... It's not often, but more than I'd like, that I see THAT look in his eye," said Temari. "Nothing lives for very long when he's like this. He's barely kept the bloodlust contained during the2 months... I'm surprised he was able to contain it after fighting the Uchiha

"_Naruto_" thought Hinata as she started to cough up blood and had to be healed by a passing ANBU member

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The semi-finals match between Uzumaki Naruto and Sabakuu Gaara will now begin!" shouted Genma, "Fight!"

He quickly jumped out of the way, but neither competitor moved against one another. Gaara's face went from being apathetic to that of a slightly crazed smirk. Naruto tensed as sand started pouring from Gaara's gourd. "Make me feel... ALIVE!"

As he shouted this, streams of sand shot out at Naruto.

Naruto flash stepped away and appeared behind Gaara and threw a kunai, Gaara without turning around blocked with his sand and sent a tendril of sand at fast speed towards Naruto who cursed and flash stepped away from him and shouted" **Kage Bunshin**"

Ten clones were created and all started to move around the arena, Gaara got an impatient snarl and separated his sand to follow but the clones started moving in random patterns causing his sand to spread thin and suddenly a Naruto appeared to the back of Gaara and shouted "**Futon Wind Cutter"** and small blades of wind started to appear in front of Naruto and zoomed at high speed toward Gaara and since his sand was spread all over the arena due to the clones, he was unable to block it and took the full brunt of the attack and turned into sand

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Up in the stands,

Kakashi muttered "ingenious he knows as long as the sand is there then he can't overcome it so he spreads the sand all over the place and attacks dead center in a fast attack making the sand to form the defense slower than the normally but he better have other tricks in his sleeve otherwise he is dead"

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"Resourceful…aren't we?" Naruto muttered, watching as the Sand Bunshin absorbed the attack before dissipating, "Though something tells me that the amount of sand you can use is limited to what's in that overgrown gourd on your back."

Gaara's face remained expressionless, earning a smirk form the blonde, "I'm right aren't I?" he chirped, "The sand in the gourd is actually the effect of old Chakra…and you control it through will power."

"What of it?" Gaara said, annoyed that his technique had been seen through so thoroughly, earning yet another chuckle from Naruto.

"Nothing if you have that sand then **Suiton-Water Wave**" Shouted Naruto sending a wave of water and drenching it and then attacked with the wind cutter again

Gaara seeing that his sand was wet dodged out of the way it was the first time he had moved in the fight and glared at his opponent and saw him making hand seals

Naruto thought about using this technique and that it was the perfect time and started making handseals and shouted "**Ice Element One Thousand Needles**" mentally thanking the old toad for his training in combining his wind and water element and fired it at Gaara.

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Up in the stands,

"What Ice Element" shouted the Gennins and Sakura said" Kakashi sensei isn't that Haku's Blood line how come Naruto has it" in a confused tone, she along with the others were very surprised at Naruto's show of power and more than now was fretting that she does not want to be in her teammate's shadow.

Kakashi in a equally amazed tone said "No he is not having a blood line, it is incredible, he first forms water element in his hand forming the desired shape like needles and then using his wind element to form super cooled air around the gathered water making ice, it is the closest thing like having bloodline but the control needed for this doing this is extraordinary, now more than ever I am sure that he was trained by some one, one does not have this type of power without proper training"

"But Kakashi sensei, who could make Naruto this strong in so short of a time" asked Ino with her mouth agape

"_Who indeed_" thought Kakashi

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At the arena,

Gaara simply formed a seal and the ground from under his feet simply rose above him to form a defense and he sent a glare at his opponent who simply said "So you can control sand even outside your Gourd but it takes more amount of chakra than it usually does"

Forming handseals Naruto gathered water and then formed an Ice Katana from thin air and simply dashed towards using flash step towards Gaara,

Gaara who was anticipating this simply formed his sand shield but was amazed when Naruto sliced of the sand and even went through his armor of sand and nicked him drawing blood

"**Ice Element Weapon Formation,** a Jutsu that let me create any weapon I see of my choice, I can infuse my wind chakra increasing its sharpness down to the molecule and am able to cut through virtually anything**" **explained Naruto with a smirk

Gaara was not listening to Naruto as he saw his blood, he started screaming "MY BLOOD YOU HURT ME MOTHER WILL HAVE YOUR BLOOD UZUMAKI"

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Up in the stands,

"Sh*t the Gaki has does it now" swore Kankuro

"Yes" said Temari with a trembling voice and thought "_Why hasn't the invasion has already began they should start soon otherwise there will be no stopping Gaara_"

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In the arena,

Gaara formed a seal and started to gather sand to him forming a sphere around him and said"** Sand Sphere" **fully enclosed himself on the sand

Naruto narrowed his eyes at this and shouted "**Katon Great Fire Ball Technique"** and watched as the fire ball made no dent in the sphere

"HAHAHA!!" Gaara's laugh was heard throughout the stadium, its mere sound send chill through the spine of many spectators. "**DESERT GOLEM**!" The redhead shouted from inside the sphere. Sand started to gather in front of the orb, creating the massive figure of a 12-feet tall golem. "**Eye of the Sand**" Was heard next, as an eye formed out of sand in encrusted itself on what would be the golem's face.

With a slow movement, the giant raised one of his arms as the limb increased in size. When the arm was almost completely extended in the air, the golem brought it down with a powerful crash, Naruto had to jump to the side to prevent been crushed by the gigantic arm.

As soon as the Naruto's feet touch the ground again, the blonde haired boy had to jump into the air as the other arm went right through where he had been less than a second ago, hitting the wall at the edge of the arena and leaving a crack behind. Naruto started doing handseals and went through a series of familiar hand signs. "**Katon Great Fire Ball Technique**!" A fireball shot out of the leaf nin mouth again.

The flames blocked the sand golem from Naruto's view. He saw the hand going straight through the fireball and headed right for him as he tried to move he found that his legs were stuck, looking down he realized that in the moment of waiting Gaara's sand had formed around his leg unknowingly and was holding him in place

Watching what was going on through the single eye on the golem, Gaara willed the giant to slam the other Gennin full force. The crowd gasped in horror as the fist headed straight for Naruto.

Naruto swore as he saw the hand coming straight for him and he bit his thumb and started doing handseals.

The crowd saw Naruto bite his thumb and started doing handseals and when the hand was nearly upon Naruto they saw him planting his hand on the ground and shouting some thing but it was already too late as they saw the giant's hand nearly upon him and a dust clod emerged when it him, then they heard a crack from the dust cloud.

Kakashi feared that he had failed another student when he heard that sound and all the Gennin were nearly in tears only Hinata who was having the Byakugan On from the tell tale signs of her veins was staring at the cloud and shouted "Look There ", Kakashi and the others saw and were amazed.

When the dust cloud cleared they saw the hand was the one cracked and Naruto standing behind a house sized TOAD wearing samurai armor and he said "**NINJA ART: SUMMONING JUTSU: ROYAL STONE TOAD GUARD** the ultimate defense a toad summoner can create"

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Up in the stands,

"_A TOAD summons, but that means ……JIRAYIA SAMA"_ thought the Jounins of Konohagakure no sato

"Impossible a toad summon but that must mean he has come back" exclaimed Kakashi and thought "_HE got training from JIRAYIA how the hell did he manage that, no wonder he became this strong"_

"Who has come back sensei and why do the others looked so shocked that Naruto can summon a toad granted he has a toad summon" asked Sakura

Kakashi explained "In the village hidden in the leaves there was the Greatest Team that was ever created even greater than the infamous Ino-Cho-Shika team, they are called as the SANNINS or the Legendary Three, the team that had gone head to head with the most dangerous Shinobi Salamander Hanzo, the team said to be trained by Sandaime Hokage himself, they all had different summons marking them separately, the Snake Summon belonging to the traitor Sannin Orichimaru, The Slug Summon belonging to the Great Medic Nin and the Slug Sannin Tsundae and finally the Strongest Summon of all three, The Toad Summon belonging to the Sannin and the Sensei of the Minato Namikaze The Greatest Kage to walk this world, The Toad Sannin Jirayia supposedly the strongest of the three and he had taken Naruto under his wing"

All the Gennin gulped at this, the sensei of the fourth has trained Naruto then that means trouble with a capital T

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Up in the Kage Booth,

"_So Jirayia has arrived early and had already taken Naruto under his wing, but what all has he taught you Gaki"_ thought Sandaime with a smirk

"_So the Kyubbi brat was trained under that toad now that complicates matter, by Jirayia's training that brat will become a problem _"seethed Orichimaru under the Guise of the Kazekage robes

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Naruto smirked from behind the toad at the whisperings, he knew that Jirayia wanted him to expose who had been training him to the world to tell that he was under his protection from now on, and he really got a kick out of it by seeing their faces

Naruto looked up to the toad said"Great timing there toady"

The Defense Toad said "No problem Gaki and I brought word from Fukasaku Sama"

"What is it" asked an intrigued Naruto

"The word is METRION, he said you will understand" said the toad and promptly vanished

Naruto started laughing at this and an intrigued Gaara spoke through the golem and asked" What was that about"

Naruto merely gave a small laugh at this said "You see my greatest weakness has always been chakra control no matter what I trained under that was always my weakness, I mean you try controlling your chakra when a 12 year body has nearly low Kage level chakra, that was until I met the Sage of Mount Myobukuzan himself the great Fukasaku Sama put a techniques of his on me"

Naruto as he was saying this was bring his hands together and now every one saw a faint glow there, when Naruto merely pushed more of his chakra and separated his arms they saw a thin stream of yellow chakra on both his arms and legs looking like shackles

Naruto gave a confident smirk and said "the technique is called **spirit shackles,** it locks your chakra and binds my arms and legs together making me pour chakra almost 24/7 thus increasing my chakra control exponentially but these spirit shackles have one disadvantage though not only it locks your chakra it also restrict my movements so it means that I am not fighting at a full percent in all my fights"

The crowd dropped their jaws at this he had trounced both the Hyuuga prodigy and the Taijutsu specialist Rock Lee and he was not even fighting them at full power

Naruto then stated to chant "AZARATH METRION ZINTHOS" and the yellow chakra surrounding his arms and legs dissolved and then there was an explosion of chakra which emitted from Naruto as all his chakra was released, the chakra started to spiral around Naruto kicking off dirt and dust away from him

Naruto gave a blissful sigh as he was able to move freely while old, Fukasaku was surely a taskmaster, only in case of emergencies has the toad told him that he would give him the release word during his exam further increasing his belief that something was terribly wrong here, but as his pineapple haired friend would say it would be troublesome to think about it in the midst of a battle

He then eyed the golem and simply raised his arm and said"** Futon Great Wind Breakthrough"** making a powerful gust of wind that blew the golem away and smacked it headfirst into the arena wall and effectively dissolving it, he then created a clone and the clone threw a fireball at the giant sphere that was Gaara was enclosed in, while he sealessly added a wind element making the orange flame white hot and it exploded on the sphere with a force of 10 exploding tags, when the smoke cleared all there was a thin sheet of glass nut the sand was covering it again.

Naruto narrowed his eyes at it and created 5 more clones each flashsteeped near the target and while two teams spit out the white fireball from two direction onto the same spot and the 5th clone creating Zabuza's Kubikiri Houcho (Head Chopping Cleaver) out of ice and slammed it on the burnt spot of glass with the weight from the sword it went a few inches but suddenly spikes came from the sphere impaling the clone and sand started to form around the sphere and spread out destroying the 4 other clones while he jumped to safety.

Naruto thought"_Damn it, the sphere has to be made up of the hardest mineral made from the soil, it is nearly impenetrable, Wind can cut through but only for a few inches then it just repairs the damage, earth can swallow it but he will simply emerge stronger than before as earth seems to be his forte, I don't know any strong lightening or fire attacks that can pierce it or change the sand to glass but who says I need to do it alone"_ with a growing smirk

Naruto bit his thumb and started to do handseals and slammed his hands on the floor, hundreds of kanji started to flow from his hand to the ground and a puff of smoke later a toad was summoned who was wearing a samurai armor having a wicked looking sword

"Gamamusha (Toad Warrior), oil now" yelled Naruto as he started doing handseals for a fire Jutsu and yelled "**Katon- Fire Blast Jutsu"** and let out a huge stream of fire and mixing it with the oil as the toad puffed his mouth and spitted out the oil and combining it yelled "**Toad Combo: Oil and Fire combo:Dragon's Breadth Jutsu"**

They let it a stream of fire and oil looking like a firestorm and poured it on the sphere, the crowd could feel the heat of the Jutsu even from the distance

Suddenly there was a mighty yell "IT BURNS IT BURNS, I AM GOING TO KILL YOU FOE THIS UZUMAKI" and Gaara emerged from the fire with his sand spewing forward and dousing the oil and he looked terrible, his right side was turning to glass and looked slightly burnt and his left eye had turned yellow and there was a huge arm made of sand on him which shot at him

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Up in the stands,

"It has come out" whimpered Temari

Kankuro did not say anything as he was too terrified to move and started cursing in his head and prayed that the invasion better start soon

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The toad jumped dodging the sand arm and Naruto hang on for dear life and yelled"Gamamusha, water now"

The toad did a hand seal with his webbed hands and shouted "**Suiton Water Gun Jutsu"**

Naruto also started doing a hand seal and shouted "**Futon Twister Jutsu"**

And both yelled "**Toad Combo: Water and Wind: Ice Forest Jutsu**"

A torrent of water blasted from the toad's mouth and Naruto wind attack swirled around it and it hit the insane Gaara dead on freezing him solid and making an ice statue, the ice started to spread and nearly covered quarter of the battle field and it looked like a forest of ice when the attack was over.

Seeing that Gaara was frozen solid and Naruto dismissed the toad back to the summon world and turned to the Procter who was hiding on the stands and said "well he is not coming out of that one"

The Procter seeing this only nodded his head and said" the winner of his mat-"

Suddenly there was a crack in the ice and it started shaking and finally the ice erupted and feathers started falling from the sky and sand ninja and sound ninja started flowing from the stadium and there was a explosion in the Kage booth

"What the hell is this" yelled Naruto

The senbon chewing ninja took his kunai and killed an oncoming sound ninja and said" the invasion has begun kid, why don't you make yourself useful and finish your match there"

Turning back to Gaara Naruto saw that he looked more of a monster than a human and was now almost completely covered in sand

"_Wait those yellow eyes and that chakra emitting from him ……..is he like me"_ thought Naruto

The invasion of Konohagakure no Sato has begun

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Note:

Thank you all for the reviews written, and to answer some of your questions yes this is a naruhina fic and no this is not a harem and I am trying to be as close to the manga as possible and sakura was jealous of Naruto when Hinata started showing feelings so I am only doing the base work on those feelings and I already asked before some tell me a name for a good sword something that has to do with either dragon or wind

Sorry if I offended anyone I did take Jutsu names from of other fics so sorry for that since I do not have enough Jutsu knowledge to create some of my own

send reviews or your own ideas to improve this fic if possible, thank you


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

Naruto was in a jam, as he was suspicious of Gaara and had tried to take him out and failed, he had one mad half racoon sand monster screaming for his blood and if that is not enough he has atleast half the sand ninja on him, it would seem that giving Gaara a run for his money and nearly defeating him is considered powerful and they would sooner have you dead than being alive in their language. So he found himself dodging the wind blades aimed at him and making use of Fukasaku's Kenjutsu training and killing any one that got close enough mentally thanking that it was not his first kill as he already killed in self defence when he was at the age of 6 and Sarutobi JiJi had already given him the speech about needing to kill to protect people and even though he may not like it he had to kill in order to protect his precious people

Which brings us back to the battle as he was fighting back to back with Genma as they were surrounded by sand and sound nin, they both were picking off the enemy one by one.

Over to the stand they saw Kakashi and Gai killing the invaders left and right shouting numbers t each other seeing who has the highest number of kills.

Naruto looked at Gaara and saw that Gaara was fast approaching him. He flash stepped suddenly and killed the ninjas surrounding him and turned around to face Gaara. He could tell that this would be the hardest trial he had ever had to overcome.

"So you finally decided to fight me fully, Uzumaki?" Gaara said as he landed in front of Naruto.

"I will kill you if you hurt this village and my friends." Naruto said.

"You continue to care for others. That is a weakness ." Gaara yelled.

"Why do you believe that caring is a weakness Gaara?" Naruto asked as he drew his sword.

The psychotic gleam in Gaara's eyes seemed to lessen for a moment.

"I used to be like you Uzumaki. I had someone precious to me. He was my uncle Yashamaru. He loved my when my siblings, father and village despised my very existence. My mother died giving birth to me as the Shukaku was sealed inside of me during my birth. Yashamaru always looked out for me, cared for me and loved me, until one day." Gaara said, his expression darkening.

"What happened?" Naruto asked.

"He tried to kill me! My father gave him a mission to kill me as my father believed that I was too much of a liability. Yashamaru attacked me in disguise and I used my sand to mortally wound him. Before he died he told me that he never loved me. He always saw me as the monster that had killed his sister. He even told me that my mother despised the village for what they had done to her and wanted me to love only myself." Gaara said.

"So then I saw the truth! In this world, the only person you should care about is yourself! Now do you see why fighting for others is pointless Uzumaki?!" Gaara said with the manic gleam returning to his eyes and sand started covering him

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Meanwhile in the Kage stands,

Sarutobi looked toward the Kazekage in surprise and anger.

"Show yourself Orichimaru!" He said as he jumped back and removed his armor to reveal his battle outfit.

"How did you know?" Orichimaru asked as he took off his disguise.

"That doesn't matter! You will not succeed in this fight!" Sarutobi said.

"Wake up Sarutobi-sensei! The armies of sand and sound are invading as we speak. Your troops are completely unprepared to handle this attack. This is the day the leaf village will burn!" Orichimaru said with an evil grin.

"That's what you think." Sarutobi replied with a smirk of his own.

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At the arena

While Naruto was fighting the ninja he saw Hinata fighting two ninjas on her own

'I have to help her.' Naruto thought as he rushed toward them. However, Gaara appeared in front of him and slammed him back.

"Out of my way Gaara! I don't have time for this!" Naruto said the match no longer mattering to him.

"You are going nowhere Uzumaki!" Gaara yelled as he attacked Naruto again.

Naruto continued to dodge as Genma jumped in between them.

"Enough!" He yelled as he kicked Gaara in the head.

"Naruto, the exam is over. Gaara is most likely going to try to transom form into his full demon form." Genma said.

"How do you know that?" Naruto asked and thought "_so I was right he is like me"_

"No time for that now! He seems to be going after you so I want you to lead him away from here and await backup from your Jounin instructor." Genma said as Baki, Temari and Kankuro jumped down to check on Gaara. Shino, Shikamaru and Chouji jumped down beside Naruto.

"Gaara is dead set on fighting me, and he's going to release his demon." Naruto said.

"He has a demon sealed inside of him?" Chouji asked in surprise.

"It makes sense." Shikamaru said, not at all surprised.

"Uzumaki!!"

All the genin returned their attention to the sand team. Gaara was on his feet and the sand had covered even more of his body. Currently, his left arm, left half of his face, and his backside were covered in sand and he was looking more and more demonic.

"We can't let him transform in the middle of the city, especially with an invasion force attacking." Shino said calmly.

"Too late, he already started transforming." Naruto said" Move back, this is my fight"

"You're going to fight him by yourself?" Chouji asked in disbelief.

"I'm the only one who can." Naruto said quietly as he turned his gaze to where Hinata, Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma and Gai were fighting.

"Go Naruto. We will handle things here." Shikamaru said.

Baki rushed to catch up with Gaara. He jumped back when Genma appeared in front of him.

"Where do you think you're going?" Genma said as he took out a kunai.

"I don't have time for this! Stand aside or die." Baki said.

"You're attacking our village and you think I'm going to listen to you?" Genma said as he rushed in to attack.

"Temari, Kankuro, help Gaara and protect him till he transforms!" Baki yelled as he fought Genma.

"Hai!" They both said as he ran in the direction that Gaara and Naruto were fighting

"We can't let them attack Naruto." Shino said as he, Shikamaru and Chouji ran after the sand Gennin to help their friend

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ANBU headquarters was receiving information from all patrols and stations on the walls. A Chunnin marked status on a large wall map of the city as messages arrived. Five minutes after the call to report status, a bad picture was forming. Several patrols outside the walls in the northeast and west areas had not reported in nor had the western gate. Quick response teams were being dispatched to the areas and to the main arena. The rumble of a sector of the northeastern wall being destroyed sounded across the city. Ibiki called out, "Sound the general evacuation alert. All civilians report to shelters at once. All ninja reserves activate and go to Stage 2 conditions in the village."

Hawks were sent out immediately to carry the message out to the village.

Sand ninja flooded through the captured western gate and fanned out. One team continued down the main street unopposed. Their objective was to head to the Hokage Tower and capture it intact if possible. The wealth and knowledge in the Konoha vaults would be a major prize. Other teams set out on search and destroy missions. Many did not like the idea of killing civilians so they engaged any ninja they saw instead. They merely drove the children and elderly before them to prevent Leaf counter attack from area effect Jutsu.

2 ANBU squad tore through the Sand ninja on the main street before them and headed to the western gate instead of engaging the enemy teams already in town. Their mission was to secure the gate. They saw teams from the nearby tower stations attempting to do the same but the Chunnin were being driven back.

The team leader spoke up, "We will secure and shut the gate first. Once we have accomplished that task we will aid our fellows. Stopping the enemy within the walls is important but useless if they get reinforcements."

The elite ninja made short work of the Sand ninja at the gate. The leader and two others stood in the gateway to hold back the enemies as the final two in their team worked the mechanism closing the gate. The pair then used fire Jutsu to disable the workings. This kept nearly two thirds of the Sand forces outside of the village but those able to use chakra to climb up the outer walls began to do so in spite of seals built into the walls to make such a task difficult.

An enormous cloud of chakra smoke billowed up and a 3 headed snake the size of the Hokage Tower rose from it. The snake surged forward and shattered the wall in front of it. The snake moved into the city and crushed the mostly abandoned Uchiha district as it went. Sound ninja poured into the city through the breech. The Leaf ninja on guard duty in that area fell back taking their wounded with them. A few Chunnin stood their ground to protect their fellows and died where they stood. In their stand, more Sound ninja fell at the wall than Leaf ninja. The Leaf forces fell back further from the three-headed snake. All they could do was retreat from it. Sound ninja flanked it and took advantage of the devastation it caused to break any resistance they found. The snake roared again as a loud voice was heard.

"Summoning Jutsu!" yelled Jirayia as a huge orange frog landed on the snake dispelling it. "Thanks, Gamakoudai." The enormous toad swung to either side and killed squads of Sound ninja at once blunting the attack before dispelling himself in a cloud of chakra smoke. Jirayia ran past the defenders toward the arena where he felt the demonic chakra of the sand Gennin being formed. He knew that he was already going to be too late. He had needed to fight his way through Sound forces to even get into the city. Every second he took fighting these people was one more he could lose the boy he still held precious so he showed his anger on the ones who are invading and wreaked havoc on the enemy forces.

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Meanwhile at the Kage booth,

Meanwhile inside the barrier 3rd Hokage and Orichimaru was ready to face each other. The four sound ninjas making the barrier made a second one from the inside so that no one can escape. The chakra intense breaking tiles. The third Hokage threw a Shuriken and both him and Orichimaru performed handsigns. "**Shurikens Shadow clone Jutsu**" the 3rd Hokage shouted as the 1 Shuriken became many. "**Summoning: Impure Worldly Resurrection**" Orichimaru shouted, and then 2 coffins appeared and blocked the attack while the 3rd one was coming. With a few handsigns the 3rd Hokage stopped the third one from appearing. The two coffins started to open and 2 leaf ninjas step out. One had black hair and dark color clothing and armors. The other was about the same except with white hair and fur with his armor.

"It can't be! The lords…," the white cloak Anbu said shocked. "The Lords?" one of the others asked.

"It was a long time huh Sarutobi?" the white hair ninja asked. "Oh its you, hmm you grown old haven't you Sarutobi?" The Black hair ninja pointed out. "I would have never thought that I would ever meet you two brothers in a situation like this, it's regrettable," the third Hokage told them. "This is really bad," the white cloak Anbu said. "That Summoning, who on earth are those two?" the other Anbu asked. "Please make preparations to be defeated, First Hokage (the black hair ninja), Second Hokage (the white hair ninja)," The Third Hokage told them.

The Anbu explained about the 2 Hokages who were supposed to be dead (which would mean that the third coffin would hold the 4th Hokage, the Hokage that performed some kind of jutsu that sealed the Nine-Tail Fox inside Naruto, and died doing so. So it was a good thing the third Hokage stopped it). Orichimaru placed Kunai's with some kind of tags into the back of the 1st and 2nd Hokage's heads giving Orichimaru complete control over the corpse like bodies.

The battle begins as the third Hokage went for an attack at them. The third Hokage performed handsigns and blew a huge fire dragon, but the 2nd Hokage countered it with a water barrier. Then the 2nd Hokage launch a water dragon Jutsu. But the 3rd countered it with a mud slide barrier. Then the 1st launch a forest Genjutsu as he caught the 3rd in a trap. Then the 3rd summoned the king monkey Emma, who agreed to help. A snake slid out of Orichimaru's mouth and a sword appears in the snake's mouth as Orichimaru took the sword out. Sarutobi launch an attack with the ape transformed into a rod at Orichimaru as Orichimaru blocked the sword just to see Emma. Orichimaru repelled them both.

Then the 3rd decided to use the shiki fujin Jutsu the 4th used to seal the nine-tail fox since his strength was weakened from fighting against two hokages, so he was going to seal Orichimaru but this time in him. Using the shadow clone Jutsu 2 clones appeared and all three summoned the reaper death seal. The shadow clones sealed the 1st and 2nd in the clones as they disappear as the third starts to seal Orichimaru's soul.

"You don't understand Orichimaru, I need to win this battle to protect the village and the people in it," Sarutobi told them, "One day a ninja will step and end the conflict you cause, and it starts right now with your downfall." "You foolish old man, your words are pointless," Orichimaru said as he twitch his hand and his sword flung at Sarutobi and stabbed him as the king apes that was tangle in Orichimaru's shadow snake tried to stop it. "This Jutsu you know means the death of both of us," Sarutobi told him, "This is the same Jutsu that help save the village and sealed the nine-tail fox into a boy," Sarutobi told him. Half of Orichimaru's soul was already out. The reaper ate any souls sealed in Orichimaru's arms from his Jutsu. Orichimaru tried to move the sword forward.

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Naruto was seeing first hand how if he had given to his hatred what could have happened as he watched Gaara transforming.

A booming roar diverted all the ninja's attention back to Shukaku Gaara who was getting larger and larger.

"Damn it, I've used a lot of chakra during these fights, I am running on fumes right now, you guys would not happen to have any soldier pills now do you..." asked Naruto to Shikamaru, Chouji, and Shino who landed beside him

"Here this is the Akimichi food pill, they will give you the needed chakra but with your current body weight you can only survive the first pill" said Chouji as he handed him a pill

"What do we do about them" asked Shino quietly as he saw Kankuro and Temari coming at them to attack them

"Thanks Chouji, alright Shikamaru take Temari since you fought before you know her attacks and can defeat her and Shino since you are fresh from battle take Kankuro and Chouji you are their support" said Naruto as he took the pill and could feel his chakra stores replenish at an astounding rate

"Hai" yelled the three as they went and confronted the two sand siblings Temari started to use her fan and Kankuro used his puppets to attack them

Naruto then looked at Gaara who by now was at the size of the Hokage Mountain and made a few handseals and went to sleep

"**YYAAAAAHHHHOOOO, I am free again, now let me spill your blood" **screamed Shukaku

"We still have to get him out of the village," said Genma, "A summon battle in the middle of the village would be most disastrous."

"I'll take care of it!" said Naruto with a cocky grin. He pricked his finger and ran through the handseals.

"**Summoning Jutsu**!" A large explosion of smoke sent others in the immediate area below flying.

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"Damn it, I'm tired of getting thrown around down here!" shouted Kankuro as he shakily got to his feet, until he looked up and saw the largest Toad he had ever seen. "What the..."

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The other Rookie's looked on in awe at Naruto's display of power.

"Imp-Impossible" gasped Sakura. "Is that Naruto?"

"Incredible" whispered Shikamaru.

"What is that" yelled Kiba looking at the giant toad who had a scar on his left eye and a sword strapped down his back and was smoking a pipe

"That Kiba is the strongest of the toad summons Gamabunta Sama, the last time anyone saw him was during the Kyubbi attack on our village, the toad that had gone head to head with Kyubbi and now he is summoned to protect this village once again" explained Kakashi

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At the library,

"_old woman be damned, i still got it"_thought Tatsuki as she dispatched another sound shinobi that dare try to steal from the library

around her were the bodies of sound nin as they tried to what they cnsider an old woman and told her to go and bake cookies while they let themselves in the library, only afterwards they found out that how much of an old lady she is as she vivciously tore up their squad and was onto the last few members who were cowering at the sight of her

Tatsuki then looked up at the looming form of Gamabunta as he cleared from the smoke and muttered"Now that is a sight I have not seen for nearly 12 years, you really have grown strong Gaki"

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"**This better be good kid**," said the Boss Summon as he huffed his pipe in annoyance.

"Who do you think I am, Ero-Sennin?" asked Naruto, and then he pointed to Shukaku, "We've got problems."

"**Shukaku**...** The Suna Youkai **(Sand Demon)... **You don't do things by halves do you Gaki**?" asked Gamabunta.

"Before we can go wild, we need to get him out of the village, any ideas?" asked Naruto.

"**None, that wouldn't require me to take a lot of damage**...?"asked Gamabunta. "**we just have to battle without wrecking the village too much**."

"well that is comforting,What have you got in mind?" asked Naruto.

"**Just follow my lead and hold on tight**!" shouted Gamabunta.

"**If you two are quite done, I'm bored and I have plenty of blood to spill**!" shouted Shukaku.

"Bring it!" challenged Naruto.

"**Suiton: ****Gunshot**" shouted Gamabunta as he and Naruto took to the air. The bullets of water impacted in the stadium around Shukaku, only one made a direct him.

Gamabunta and Naruto landed in the midst of a bunch of houses. "Damn that almost hit us, I thought you said we wouldn't damage the village!"

"**No, I said we would damage the village as little as possible**!" replied Gamabunta, "**have you any ideas, we have to wake the vessel up otherwise the sand demon will just resurface again**"

"Just one idea, how about I transform you and you latch onto him and I will jump and make Gaara to wake, though why hee is sleeping in the midst of battle i never know" said Naruto

"**Sounds like a plan Shukaku keeps the hosts from sleeping. He devours their mind, their personalities if they dare sleep. Eventually the hosts go mad anyways though. Right now he's able to act because his host is asleep**." said Gamabunta as he blew smoke from his pipe

"Okay anything else for the plan" asked Naruto as he looked down to Gamabunta's eye

"**I don't have claws or fangs to hold onto Shukaku. I'll provide the chakra, you think of something I can change into**."

"Right! You ready?" Across from them the sand demon had gotten fed up with waiting and had begun to ready himself for an attack.

"**Yes**." Gamabunta quickly molded his chakra for the transformation.

"Then let's go!" Naruto could think of only one thing to hold the Raccoon, a fox. So he thought of a fox, but not just any fox. Naruto was thinking of the Kyubbi. It came as no big surprise to him when the toad he was riding on was transformed into a gigantic fox that looked just like the Kyubbi no Kitsune, except with only one tail. To those watching however it came as a huge shock.

"Is that the Kyubbi?" TenTen muttered. She'd only seen drawings of it before but she could swear the thing before her looked just like the demon.

"No. It must be a henge." Shikamaru said. He frowned a bit, confused. "Why would Naruto have the summon turn into a fox?"

It became clear when the fox suddenly lashed onto the surprised tanuki. Naruto jumped off and ran towards the top of the demon's head where Gaara was buried waist deep in sand. "Wake up!" He screamed as he threw a tremendous punch straight at the boy's jaw.

A loud crack was heard as the punch connected. The monster screamed as he started to dissolve away and Gamabunta vanished in a cloud of smoke as his job was done.

Naruto and Gaara fell towards the sand covered ground. Naruto managed to flip in mid-air and land in heavy crouch on the ground, the wind getting knocked out of him from the jarring motion. Gaara however was too dazed and landed in a painful crash twenty feet away.

For awhile nothing happened and no one moved. Naruto was breath heavily where he stood, not daring to turn his back just in case it wasn't over. The other ninja were too shocked by the short lived battle to do anything. And Gaara was just lying on the ground.

Suddenly Gaara started to shift before struggling to his knees.

"Kill me." He said in a perfect monotone.

"No." Naruto replied. He didn't even sound shocked although the rest of the ninja were greatly surprised.

"Why not? You won, I lost." Gaara continued to speak in a monotone despite his surprise.

"Exactly. If I killed you now it wouldn't serve any purpose. I wasn't ordered to kill you Gaara, I was just suppose to stop you. I did that. Right now you aren't any sort of threat to me." Naruto explained.

"And later, what if I come back. What if I attack again?"

Temari wanted to shout at her brother to shut up. Did he want to die?

"Then I suppose I'll fight you again, and next time I suppose I probably will kill you." Naruto said.

"Why not now? Are you that afraid to kill someone?" Naruto began to laugh at him, but it wasn't a pleasant sound.

"You aren't the only one who's killed people before Gaara. Do you really think that people like us could go through life without killing anyone by this age?" Naruto sobered.

"Gaara, do you want to die? Because it sounds like you do. It sounds like you're asking me to kill you." Naruto continued , all his attention focused instead on the red head in front of him.

"People like us are relics of the past. We never should have been born. What role do we, weapons from birth, play in this time of mostly peace?" His tone pulled at the heartstrings of the girls. Gaara sounded resigned.

"I don't know Gaara. I really don't. In the past few months since I learned the truth I've been asking myself that over and over. How can someone like me ever really belong? I understand Gaara I really do. It's so hard having everyone look at you and never see you. Instead they see that thing, the object of their hate and fear. After a while, after years of seeing them look at you like that, it would be so easy to hate them. So I did. I hated them Gaara. I hated them all. Everyone in that village. And soon I hated Konoha itself. I hated them, I hated Konoha, I hated the situation, even though I didn't understand it, and I even started to hate myself. I didn't know why. I was just a child. But I was filled with hate."

"So you really do understand." Gaara smirked at him.

"Yes. I understand. I was filled with hate Gaara, but I wasn't happy. Hating them, hating the village, hating the situation, it didn't do a damn thing Gaara. Nothing would ever change if I kept on hating everything. Least of all myself. So I tried to stop hating. And once I started looking at things through eyes cleared of hate it was easier to see the things I could love. And then I found it Gaara. I found my reason for living."

"What? What was it?" By this point Gaara, and everyone else was listening closely.

"That one person who didn't hate or fear me. The Hokage. The Hokage was always nice to me. It wasn't long before I came to love the Old Man, just like he loved me. Soon he became my world. It isn't the ideal situation. Ideally we should be able to live for ourselves without a reason, but I wonder it it's possible for people like us. After I found the Hokage, I started to find others. Iruka-sensei, Teuchi, Ayame, Ero-Sennin, Tatsuki Baa Chan, my friends, my teammates, they all became my reasons for living. So I promised I would protect them, all of them, and everyone who was important to them. I swore to protect this village Gaara. And one day I'll be Hokage, so I can protect everyone I need to. As long as the village stands it's the proof of my existence."

"The village…" Gaara looked down at the sand surrounding him. "That's your proof…"

"It's easy to hate them Gaara, but it's not very rewarding. For people like us though it seems like the only thing we can do. But still, try to find just one person you can live your life for. And you might start to understand a bit better."

"No one. I have no one." Gaara growled at him, angry at something he didn't understand.

"What about them?" Naruto pointed towards Temari and Kankuro who ere earlier defeated by Shikamaru and Shino. "You know they tried everything to fight my friend to win so that they can fight by you to protect you, they cares about you, and you, do you think you'd feel nothing if they died, right now, today?"

"…"

"Start with not hating them, you don't have to love them today, you don't have to even like them, but try not hating them. It's not going to be easy, you won't become happy over night. But maybe one day you will be, and that will be worth any hardship you have now." Naruto reasoned with him.

"Maybe…" Gaara slumped suddenly to the ground, unconscious.

"GAARA!" Temari screamed as she and Kankuro ran to the prone form.

"Don't worry. It's just his chakra is all gone. Although he might have a few broken bones too." Naruto suddenly sat down on the ground. "Actually I think all my chakra is gone too."

"Thank you." Temari was supporting half her unconscious brother's wait on her shoulder, her other brother Kankuro doing the same on his other side. "Thank you so much."

It was Kakashi, Gai, and a few other Jounin's that looked familiar to Naruto but he couldn't identify as his entire world turned black.

"We only came for our brother," said Kankuro who directed his puppet. The girl Temari, set her other brother into a long puppet that resembled a giant insect that, if Kakashi guessed right, was mostly for defensive purposes.

"Tell Uzumaki when he awakes... Thank you..." said Temari as she and Kankuro left.

"Let them go..." said Kakashi. "The invasion is over... We don't need any unnecessary blood to be spilled, theirs or ours."

Kakashi scooped up Naruto into his arms and left with the others to the nearest hospital "_you done well naruto wish i had contributed atleast a portion of our power"_

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At Sarutobi's and Orichimaru's battle. Orichimaru manage to move the sword closer to him by moving his fingers and Sarutobi was still struggling.

At the arena the Jounins went through the last of the enemy out of the stands. At the prison Sarutobi was using his last bit of strength trying to captured Orichimaru's sole. "Could you die already Sarutobi-sensei?" Orichimaru asked. "No your ambitions ends here," Sarutobi responded. The reaper had held at least the sole of Orochihamaru's hands. He tried forcing the sword to come closer trying to kill Sarutobi.

"My ambitions won't end here you will die. Your village your willing to protect is in shambles the leaf village will fall," Orichimaru shouted. "You of all people should know to take the Shinobi of the leaf lightly," Sarutobi explained.

Sarutobi continued, "The Shinobi of Konoha leaf village will keep fighting to protect their village. That's their reason to fight right now. The spirit cut the sole of Orochihamaru's arms as it sealed in Sarutobi. Orichimaru's arms turned black as they rendered useless. The reaper ate Sarutobi's soul. "The flame that burns in all the ninjas here that protects," Sarutobi said before dying. The king of monkeys removed the sword from Sarutobi before returning. The sound four took Orichimaru and left as the mission failed. The barrier broke with it and all of the enemies retreated as the Jonins Anbu and Jirayia landed at the corpse of their 3rd Hokage.

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Note:

I got a few messages asking if it is a teen titan crossover the answer is no i just only used the incantation for releasing the shackles nothing more, hope you enjoyed the story review please


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11:

The funeral for the Sandaime took place on a beautiful sunny day with large, fluffy clouds floating through the blue skylines. Naruto thought it should be raining. He found himself standing under that glaring sun next to Asuma and Konohamaru, occasional shadows passing over the gathering. Apparently the Sandaime had asked that he be allowed to stand with the family in the event of his death.

The entire village was there as they listened to Sarutobi's old teammates speak. Jiraiya had refused to say anything. Telling the council that anything he said of the old man they probably wouldn't want to hear. Naruto smirked at that, reminiscing on the day when he decided to test hi_s Sexy_ _Jutsu_ on the old man.

He thought back to the beginning where the Sandaime was always there for him giving him advice, taking him to treat ramen, he still remember the first time that Sarutobi JiJi took him to his first ramen treat at Ichiraku how he had liked it so much and told him to eat how much he can, he was astounded that his 5 year body could eat atleast 6 bowls of ramen he was so shocked, and how he would always be there for his birthdays and to make him not to feel left out as others have gone to the festival and always gave him ANBU protection since his 6th birthday

Naruto felt something wet slide down his cheek, he brought his hand to his face and found it wet, he was crying, he didn't cry since the age of six not till THAT incident and thought "_It would seem that I cared for you more than I realize JiJi_". When his turn came to place the flower instead of placing a flower, he started to do hand signs for which some ninjas stiffened but made no move to stop him, finally Naruto created an ice rose which sparkled in the sun and was looking like a real one down to the minute detail and placed it on the grave and muttered "for you , old man "and promptly went beck to standing between the Sarutobi family, the other Gennin and some ninjas gave him sad looks as they know he was very close to the old Hokage and considered him a family that he never had.

Naruto remained steadfast throughout the experience—crying against his will along with Konohamaru wailed beside him as he put an arm around him to console him. He watched as they lit the funeral pyre or as they carved the Sandaime's name into the memorial stone. That entire day Naruto refused to speak to anyone.

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Sakura thought that even if the world was coming to an end there would still be D-Ranked missions for them to do. Even with the Hokage gone missions were still handed out. She sighed as she and her teamed trudged up the stairs to tell Koharu, who had temporarily taken over mission assignments, that they had completed their latest D-Rank, rebuilding a fence and shed and her team had splitted up for this while she and Sasuke along with some old academy students are working in construction jobs, Naruto was there working in search and rescue as he can use a liberal amount of shadow clones to save manpower.

She sighed, Naruto was changing, in the academy he was just an idiot and always asked her for dates but now he changed he was more serious in becoming a ninja, to fulfil his dream and promise to the Sandaime to become a hokage and the power he showed in the finals and during the invasion she knew that he was close to fulfilling that dream in a few years, another thing to worry about is Sasuke, the Uchiha since his defeat to Gaara and how Naruto seemed to have defeat him was grating on him and making him real jealous, it is not uncommon for him to challenge Naruto to show who is top dog but Naruto always ignored him and Kakashi sensei having enough of this chastised Sasuke for this which did not sit too well with him, as for him an elite Uchiha cannot defeat a Gennin but Naruto had not only defeated Gaara he had also killed nearly 50 ninja if the body count was right and further more he gets to have training from THE Jiraiya a Sannin who trained the 4th Hokage, he believes that only he has that right as the last loyal Uchiha and had even approached the Sannin and demanded to teach him and to make him more powerful than Naruto, Jiraiya and the councilors and some ninja who were with him when he asked were shocked and the Sannin told him that he had no interest in teaching him and he already got an apprentice , at this declaration he pointed to Naruto who was there at that time and was watching the proceeding as though he was expecting it and said that Naruto was a clan less loser who has no right to be trained by a Sannin and only he an elite Uchiha can be trained by him which did not sit well with Jiraiya and he lifted Sasuke by the neck and told him that by his attitude he will the last person that will be trained by him and bodily threw him out the door and warned Kakashi to control his student who was shocked as all were by this declaration and apologized profusely for the incident.

Kakashi was not happy at all due to the recent events due to the invasion the new merchandise of icha icha volume has been postponed and not to mention his students seem to be drifting apart as it is, Naruto had hardly said a word to him, he had apologized profusely to him for his behavior and even said that he would give him better training to him from now on but the blonde just gave him a cold look and looked away without an other word, Naruto still did not trust him even when he told him the reason he left him without training during the prelims was to train Sasuke for Gaara who will undoubtedly kill him while the blonde acknowledged this he said he would never forgive him for his lack of training during the 7 months before the Chunnin exams as HE would have been killed due to his lack of training in the Chunnin exams, Kakashi did not have a word for this as how could he tell his Gennin that he was simply forgotten in his excitement to train a boy that was so like him in the younger days.

He sighed and thought of his other student and there lies his real problem, he thought that he had cured Sasuke of his arrogance but he was wrong, it would seem that as he was separately trained from his teammates his arrogance only grew when he gave him to learn the chidori and gave him an illusion that since he has an A class assassination technique in his arsenal he was the strongest Gennin in the leaf and did not like it when Naruto not only to be trained by a Sannin but also defeated a Gennin that he was unable to defeat, his jealously grew to astounding proportions over his teammates growth and he had even tried to sneak peek during the blondes training and copy some of his Jutsu but Kakashi stopped him and gave him such a beating during a spar that he would never think of using the sharingan like that even on a comrade but the Uchiha had to go and _DEMAND_ training from Jiraiya and Jiraiya was not looking pleased with the interruption and had even told me to control my student which was the second time someone told him and he was trying all he can but his student was too stubborn for it and will not listen to reason that Naruto also has potential and simply brooded more and Kakashi was this close to banging his head on a wall on how to get to his students, he could ask the other Jounin but they were still pissed at him for leaving Naruto in the dust while he was training Sasuke, Kakashi sighed again and simply turned a page of his book and just got another D ranked mission

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Naruto was sighing again as he found another dead civilian, the one day war as it was called had caused destruction on the buildings and on lives while the sand did not attack civilians needlessly the sound forces had and had killed many people and his shadow clones have given the necessary manpower for search and rescue found too much bodies for his liking.

"Over here" shouted an Inuzuka who was standing on an blown up building his nose to the ground

"What is it?" growled out Tsume Inuzuka who was leading the search and rescue

"I can hear several people's breathing down there, it is faint but there may be people alive down there" said the Inuzuka

"He is correct my insects have confirmed it but they are trapped under debris and this roof is very heavy, by the time the roof is moved, the combined weight of the roof and the people lifting it the people trapped there will be crushed" said an Aburame

"Any ideas on how to lift the roof" asked Tsume as she inspected the debris for any kind of opening to dig the way out but finding none as a single shift could bring the roof down.

"I got an idea" said Naruto from the sidelines

"Oh what is it" asked Tsume with a curious tone

Naruto just gave a grin and simply started to do handseals and bite his thumb and slammed it into the ground and a puff of smoke later stood there an old toad with a green cape leaning on a cane

"What is it now Naruto Chan" asked Fukasaku with an irritated tone

Naruto started to sweat at this and asked his help to remove the roof to free his inhabitants

"Kid not to sound rude but how this old toad help to lift the roof"asked an Inuzuka with an incredulous air which was shared by the surrounding ninjas

Naruto started to sweat more as he looked fearfully at the toad lest he lost his temper again but Fukasaku was simply observing those around him to see how they react to Naruto seeing as they seem friendly to him he said "watch your mouth sonny kid these days have no respect for the elders, alright Naruto Chan I will help you"

Naruto gave a grateful sigh and said "thank you pa"

Fukasaku just wobbled to the roof and the surrounding ninjas dropped their jaws as they saw the toad lift the heavy roof with just one hand and toss it like it was nothing to the side, he then tapped his cane on the ground and a bunch of smaller toads appeared and scurried into the debris

He then explained to the intrigued Naruto" those were the scout toads they can go through smaller places and find the people and give a scent which can be smelled by the Inuzuka dogs and they can dig the person out which were found by the toads"

Naruto then turned to the ninjas who still had their jaws on the ground and said "Fukasaku is a sage of Mount Myobukuzan and he can convert nature chakra to pure strength and can lift heavy objects with the slightest ease"

He then turned to the old toad and said "Hey pa how about I treat you to ramen as a token of appreciation"

"Sure Naruto Chan I must confess I am curious of this Ichiraku ramen as you and Gamakichi will not shut about it" said Fukasaku as he climbed onto Naruto shoulder

Naruto then turned to Tsume who nodded at him to go and they went to the relief center where Ichiraku was making ramen along with Ayame to give to the ninjas and civilians alike who were hurt in the war and also to the ninjas who were working on rebuilding the village

On the way Naruto got many weird looks as he was having an old toad on his shoulder and was chatting with him,

Years of ignoring the people have Naruto trained to not see people who were glaring at him but he saw there were less glares as of late and many ninjas even complimented him on his match though there were a select few who still maintained that he was a demon

When thy reached the relief center they got the ramen and Naruto sat with his fellow rookies as they all ate together after introducing pa to them, pa who liked the ramen excessively was able to finish off three bowls and after bidding goodbye to Naruto went back to the summoning realm, just then an ANBU jumped in front of him and said "Uzumaki Naruto you are wanted in the Hokage's office, please come immediately" and then Shunshined away

Naruto thinking that it was perhaps a mission went to the office and found the Hokage's two councilors who glared at him and Jiraiya there standing there irritabily

"What is it Ero Sennin" asked Naruto

"don't call me that, Gaki" growled Jiraiya" come with me Naruto and pack your things and meet me by the north gate in 1 hour"

"Where are we going" asked Naruto

"We are going to find the future Hokage and the Godaime of Konoha and since your are my apprentice you are coming with me"

"Okay" said Naruto giving Jiraiya a strange look as he was acting a little too seriously and promised to look into it afterwards

One hour later, at the gates

"Well we are off to then" said Jiraiya

"Yes, why were you so irritated back there" asked Naruto

"Oh that well the elders thought taking you as an apprentice was a bad idea and even had the guts to ask me to take the Uchiha as an apprentice , the morons think they can order me" exclaimed Jiraiya "anyway I thought if a new Jutsu for you"

"Alright new jutsu"yelled Naruto completely forgetting about the previous conversation"is it a powerful one, does it have a big explosion at the end, tell me, tell me, tell me"

Jiraiya just sighed at this and started answering the questions as they went to Tanzaku town

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"So; this in Konoha? It doesn't look like much at all, Itachi," said the blue skinned Kisame.

"It was at one time, Kisame. Now please keep your sword under control. It keeps sucking in the chakra I am using on our Genjutsu." said Itachi who was shorter than his companion and was wearing a hat and cloak and nothing but his eyes could be seen, made a few hand signs and Kisame's skin color seemed to fade to a simple pale. "I need us to look like normal civilians until we capture our prize." And turned himself into a normal civilian and the last thing to disappear was a spinning three tomoe Sharingan

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note:

sorry for the short chapter but i promise the next chapter will be big


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12:

Naruto was growing bored, him and Jiraiya were moving from tanzaku town and when the old pervert said he was going to teach him a Jutsu, he was overjoyed which were quickly crushed when he just simply gave him a water balloon and told him to burst it using chakra, and the worst part is the guy is not telling him how to do it just to figure it on his own

Naruto had figured out that all roads in the Fire country tended to look the same. Long, dusty, rutted and surrounded by forest—there was never much variation. Towns tended to look the same too. Sure the decorations and people were different, but the buildings all kinda looked the same and the villages were usually laid out in the same order. Essentially, traveling in the Fire country got old fast.

Sighing, he tore his eyes away from the road in front of him and looked down at the water balloon held in his hand. He'd been shown by Jiraiya a day ago what to do but he hadn't yet gotten the damn thing to pop yet. The only time it ever popped was when Naruto got frustrated and squeezed it too hard.

Looking forward again Naruto saw Jiraiya walking ten paces in front of him. Suddenly Naruto got a great idea for the Sannin for not giving him a hint. Smirking evilly Naruto stretched his arm back before hurling the balloon as fast as he could at Jiraiya.

Jiraiya was pretty sure he was lost. He wanted to go to Kekko, but they should have been there already according to the map. He turned the map this way and that trying to determine if he read it wrong. Suddenly a flying object hit him straight in the back of the head, bursting on impact and soaking his hair.

A dark aura surrounded the man, "Na-ru-TO…" The map got ripped in half. "You better RUN!" Jiraiya whirled and took off after his laughing student.

Naruto ran under branches and over bushes laughing maniacally the entire time. Jiraiya was close on his heels. Eventually Naruto burst out from the tree line onto another road, before he could make it to the trees on the opposite sides however; he was grabbed by the back of his collar. Pulled backwards he landed heavily on his butt at Jiraiya's feet.

"You brat… you better be prepared to face the consequences for your…" Suddenly Jiraiya noticed a sign just beyond his student's shoulder at the edge of the road. _'Kekko, Ten Miles'_ it read accompanied by an arrow pointing south, the opposite direction they had been traveling. "…You're one lucky idiot, Naruto. Because you managed to find the right road I won't punish you." Naruto breathed a sigh of relief. "At least, I won't punish you _now_."

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At Kekko,

"Come on Brat it is a long day, lets get a room, I already have a room rented for us" said Jiraiya after coming from another bar

"Whatever Ero Sennin" said a bored Naruto, due to keeping a low profile, he is forbidden to practice Rasengan near population so without doing any thing he was getting bored. Just then a beautiful lady walked by and winked at Jiraiya. He immediately gave a lecherous grin and murmured to Naruto to go to the hotel room and stay there while he will come shortly and speeded away chasing the woman.

Naruto sighed at this and muttering about incompetent old perverts and walked to the hotel room and started to practice his Rasengan there when there was a knock on the door.

"You got dumped already that is a new record, Ero Sennin "said Naruto in a humorous tone

When he opened the door there were two people there both wearing black cloaks with red clouds on them, one was a blue skinned man with a huge sword looking thing on his back, the other was a pale skinned man who resembled Sasuke

Naruto looked at them for a minute and simply said "I did not order any room service especially sushi so get lost" and slammed the door and started to run towards the windows

Sweat drooping at that Kisame asked "did he just call me a sushi Itachi"

Itachi never losing the emotionless face simply replies "I believed he did Kisame"

Kisame getting a tic mark on his forehead simply punched the door and smashed it to splinters and they both saw that Naruto was heading towards the window, Kisame just sighed and got to the window at high speed before Naruto and cut off his escape and said "you called me sushi brat big mistake samehada will feast on you"

Naruto started sweating bullets, he could sense these guys were strong and turned to the other man who was simply walking in, Itachi simply looked at Kisame and his eyes started to spin and Kisame got a dazed look, he then turned towards Naruto and said "that is a nice bit of acting there, you even fooled me for a second Naruto"

Naruto lost the terrified look on his face and said in a humorous voice "well I am a method actor otherwise I would have never survived Konoha without my acting skills and I did learn from the best did I not………Itachi sensei "

**Flashback:**

"Please…….stop…….. I did not do anything….. why are you attacking me" screamed a 6 year old Naruto , he was making his way from the ramen shop when a few drunks started attacking him and beating him when one of them went to stab him with a broken bottle he had parried and the drunkard dropped the bottle Naruto seeing the chance took the bottle and had stabbed him and his eyes gone wide as he saw the life leave the man's eye and the others seeing this shouted to the people that the Kyubbi is breaking loose resulting in a mob and his current situation but Naruto was nearly catatonic when he killed so he was unable to run away leading to his current situation

"Why because you are a monster, demon" yelled a random villager as he kicked Naruto in the ribs

"Yeah you killed thousands when you attacked Konoha demon" screamed another

"Die demon"

"Demon brat"

"Kyubbi"

"You will pay for your crimes"

A random Chunnin who stepped out of the crowd said "though I hate you fox I have another motive, the Yondaime is remembered as the ninja who defeated the Kyubbi, I will be known throughout Konoha as the ninja who did what the greatest of Hokage was not able to do I KILLED A DEMON, then I will become famous and power shall be mine, with your death comes my glory, now time to die demon brat" he said in a smug grin and as he raised his kunai to go for the killing strike he let out a blood curdling scream

As Naruto heard his words he understood that he will not live today as he gave in to the inevitable when he heard the scream he managed to open one of his eyelids and look upon an ANBU wearing a weasel mask holding a katana which just decapitated the Chunnin before him

The ANBU said in an emotionless voice "you all have disgraced the fourth's wishes and broke the Sandaime's law, for that the punishment is death, now die" saying this he killed the ring leaders and used a Genjutsu to knock the others out

When the other ANBU arrived they rounded the fallen people and the weasel mask ANBU took Naruto to the hospital

At the hospital,

When Naruto woke up he was startled to see white ceiling and recognizing the hospital room saw the Sandaime there smoking his pipe looking thoughtful and sad

He drew his attention by jumping from the bed and crying on the man's shoulders which started the old Hokage who gave a tight grand fatherly hug back, making Naruto sit on his lap he made him repeat the story and when he heard that Naruto had to kill, he immediately comforted Naruto and told him that it was alright to kill in self defense and the reason why they kill and as he comforted Naruto the weasel masked ANBU came in and bowed before them sitting on one knee while placing his hand out front in a token of respect and said "the mob has been given to Ibiki Hokage Sama, I suspect he likes the boy a little as he gave a more sadistic laugh than usual and was a tad BIT more brutal during interrogation "

"I suspected he might be, what happened to the ANBUs I posted around Naruto, why did they not interfere" asked the Sandaime in a controlled voice due to the presence of the boy who having recognized his savior was looking at him curiously

The ANBU was not fooled, he could sense that even though the Hokage's voice was controlled his chakra was rising rapidly indicating his rage, he simply replied "They were mysteriously engaged and some of the younger ANBU were backing them up Hokage Sama should I take care of them"

"No I will do this personally" said sarutobi with a grim smile and a terrifying look which made his enemies cower in his presence in his eyes

he continued"you guard this room and let no one enter except the Doctor Orihime Inoue, she is the only one I will trust with Naruto's welfare and she will not sent any aides or whatever so don't be fooled if any body comes and says they are, if such person comes detain them I will speak to them personally, just don't let Naruto try her cooking, alright"

"Acknowledged Hokage Sama" said the ANBU bowing his head

"Naruto duty calls I trust this man he will look after you okay I will return in the morning, get some rest" said Sarutobi in a kind voice

Naruto just nodded at this and saw the Hokage nod his head to the ANBU as he left the room and looked at the weasel masked ANBU with a little fear, even though the hokage told him it was safe he could not help but have a little fear

The ANBU seeing his fear just slipped of his hood to show his black hair which was tied in a pony tail and took of his mask, he had a handsome face which was a bit pale and when he opened his eyes instead of the normal eyes he had red eyes and what seemed to be commas around the eye which faded to normal black eyes and said in a soft voice "You need not fear me little one, I can train you to control your emotions so you can show them you are no threat yet be stronger than they realize, what say you Naruto"

"Okay thanks for the training I guess, but who are you" asked Naruto

"Where are my manners, my name is …………. Itachi Uchiha" said Itachi

**Flashback End:**

"It has been a while hasn't it Naruto, though why are you not fearing me, I did kill my entire clan" asked Itachi

Naruto snorted at this and said "I may not know the reason why you killed them Itachi, but I have my theories"

"Oh and what is that then" asked Itachi with a curious air

"the killing of your clan portrays you a mad man, yet you spared Sasuke and all the Uchiha deaths were all quick kills if the report was true not at all a work of a psychopath if you ask me, not to mention before you ran away from the village you came to me to say good bye, though the killing I suspect it has done something to do with the Hokage and their advisors though "said Naruto in a serious voice

"And how you came to that conclusion" asked Itachi in an emotionless voice

"you were named a high ranking missing nin yet you were avoided at all cost even the snake freak who is just as powerful as you gets hunted from the hunter nin, only the higher echelons have that kind of authority" said Naruto with a smile

Itachi just gave a laugh that was so unlike him at this and asked "it would seem I did train you well in looking underneath the underneath, very good Naruto how are you and how is my brother" losing his emotionless façade and giving a little smile to his one time student

"I am fine and as for your brother well he is fine and I fear for his life since he is convinced that other than him no one should be strong, he is getting a little too power hungry if you ask me " said Naruto

Itachi sighed at this and said "power hungry huh, an Uchiha trait one I had hoped that he will never acquire, that it would seem I was wrong, give this scroll to Jiraiya and it would seem we will have visitors" giving Naruto a thick scroll, who hid it beneath his black cloak and at that moment Kisame seemed to come out of his reverie and said" well Itachi what is going to be, he will no doupt try to run lets us shave of his legs"

Itachi simply replied "we must bring him as a single piece, leaders order but you can knock him out and I will take out the trash, is it not right Sasuke" looking in the direction of the hall

Sasuke came from the hall and said "Itachi I lived like you said, I have hated you with every fiber of my being now is time to meet your fate" and started to do handseals and soon the sound of a thousand chirping birds filled the hallway

"**CHIDORI"** screamed Sasuke as he shot at this brother but Itachi was simply standing there and at the last second caught his brother's arm and giving a slight twist broke his arm and said "foolish brother you are not strong enough, you have not that much hate in you now relive the past **Tsukiyomoni**" looking at Sasuke's eyes and Sasuke screamed out as he saw his parents death over and over againfor 72 hours

Meanwhile Kisame was having fun at trying to slash at the blonde who was using flash step to parry his wicked sword which seems to absorb his chakra as he tried to mold it into jutsu but was unsuccessful

"Stand still so I can shave you" yelled Kisame in a gleeful tone

"Yeah right" deadpanned Naruto and flash stepped behind Kisame and tried to slash him with his kunai but Kisame moved with speed that belied his size and kicked him into the wall and brought his sword down in him

But the sword was blocked by a toad who was holding his sword in both hands and then Kisame flew sideways as Jiraiya kicked him sideways and said "you are 10 years too soon to think you can fool me with just with a woman and a Genjutsu Uchiha Itachi, what is Akatsuki planning to do with the Bijuu Uchiha" said Jiraiya as he spoke in a threatening tone

"it seems I under estimated you Toad Sennin,clearly you are the one who warned Kakashi about our organization, no matter Kisame we are leaving we are no match for his toad arts, now come on" said Itachi, Kisame just shook himself from the powerful blow, he just nodded and they were prepared to run when the walls turned to organic walls and they heard Jiraiya say "**Toad arts: Toad Mouth Bind,** this Jutsu teleports us to the mouth of the fire toad and it is impenetrable now surrender and I will ease your passing"

"I think not Jiraiya Sama,** Amateresu" **said Itachi as he sprouted Black flames which burnt right through the wall and they escaped through the man made escape

Jiraiya sighed at this and said "well that it then no don't go near that Gaki" as Naruto walked closer to the black flame to investigate it "that flame is said to be from the sum goddess herself it will burn for 7 days and 7 nights with no fuel and is hotter than normal flames, now don't disturb me"

Jiraiya then started to draw some intricate seals and he sealed the flames on the scroll and turned to Naruto but at that moment Gai in all his spandex glory came and kicked Jiraiya in the head and after profusely excusing himself he took Sasuke and left, then both he and Naruto went to find another hotel

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"well what news from Itachi" asked Jiraiya as they settled in the new hotel suite

Naruto gave him the scroll that Itachi gave and told of this meeting and promptly went to sleep

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After their journey to Kekko and they still hadn't found Tsunade. Sure they heard about her a lot, the Legendary Sucker was after all_ legendary_, but they always seemed to have just missed her every time. It was enough to make even Jiraiya twitch with irritation.

Without warning Naruto suddenly plopped down in the middle of the road. He released a small scream of frustration before throwing the balloon in his hand at a near-by tree.

"Why can I make it work?!" He cried. "Hey, Ero-sannin can't you give me a hint or something?"

"Nope." Was the pervert's quick reply.

"WHY NOT?" Naruto jumped back up to stand in front of Jiraiya. He attempted to glare menacingly at his teacher but the effort was wasted as he stood about a foot shorter than the older man.

"It's something you have to figure out on your own." Jiraiya smirked down at his student, enjoying torturing him like this.

"ARGH! Fine!" Naruto stomped away down the road. For a while there was silence between the pair as Naruto had resumed his training and Jiraiya was trying to read the new map he bought. Suddenly Jiraiya got an idea.

"Hey Naruto, how about you take a break with this technique and I teach you another one?"

"No way! I won't give up!" Naruto told him with fire flashing in his eyes.

"It's not giving up. This technique will be easier for you to learn. Who knows, maybe you'll figure something out if you take a break." Jiraiya told his student. Jiraiya then attempted to fold his map, eventually giving up when it wouldn't fold back into its original shape. He stuck it into his pack before turning to face Naruto. "Okay this is a wind technique so you should pick it up easily. It's called **Fuuton:Wind Blast**. If you do nothing but put chakra straight into the attack it creates a blast of wind that can push back enemies or allies without hurting them. If you spin the chakra before putting it into the technique it'll create a small tornado that can do minimal damage but will put a good distance between the enemy and you. The more chakra you put into the attack the stronger and more powerful the wind is, got it?"

He then performed three seals and shouted out the name of the attack directing a blast of wind at a nearby tree causing the leaves to be stripped off the branches. "Alright now you try."

"Right!" Flipping through the seals Naruto shouted, "**Fuuton:Wind Blast**!" Instead of a burst of wind like Jiraiya created, a large tornado formed and began ripping up trees as it made its way through the forest. The tornado dissipated once it got about two hundred feet away, leaving Naruto and Jiraiya to stare at the destruction.

"You might want to try putting less chakra in it given your enthusiasm for new jutsu," Jiraiya stated calmly, his eyes surveying the tornado's path.

"A lot less."

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Three weeks later Naruto had finally mastered the first step to learning Rasengan and the second step, much to the surprise of Jiraiya who thought it would take three times as long. He was now attempting to master the third step and wasn't having much luck, he can do the darn thing two handed but Jiraiya was adamant in learning it to do it single handedly and also to work on the timing.

Jiraiya on the other hand was having a lot of luck. The last town they'd been in they'd only missed Tsunade by a day, so hopefully they would finally catch up with her in this latest town.

Suddenly a large crowd ran past the two, shouting something about a giant snake. Jiraiya quickly took off, without a word to Naruto, towards the location the villagers were running from. Surprised Naruto ran after him, barely able to keep Jiraiya in his sights.

At one point Naruto lost Jiraiya completely but quickly found him again next to a destroyed wall.

"She was here. Her monstrous strength must have done this. Orochimaru was here too." Jiraiya told him as they both stared at the rubble.

"Orochimaru… that snake freak is here?" Naruto asked. "

Yes." Jiraiya turned and started walking away from the site. "Come on, we might as well go get something to eat. Tsunade may still be here but I'm hungry, let's eat first."

"Right, but can we at least not go to a bar again?" Naruto followed Jiraiya back the way they had come.

"No." Jiraiya stated.

"Aww, you suck!" replied a pouting Naruto.

"Kid I keep telling you the bar is the best place for information gathering that is the place where tongues are loosened" said a patient Jiraiya

"Yeah and hitting on the woman there is also the part of the bargain" said an irritated Naruto

Jiraiya wisely did not say anything and entered the bar when

"Jiraiya what the hell are you doing here" asked a buxom blonde who was sitting with a black haired woman holding a pig

"Well speak of the devil hello there Tsunade" said Jiraiya as he gave a smirk

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Note:

Reviews and comments are accepted about my story and give any mew ideas you can think of for the plot


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13:

"Jiraiya what the hell are you doing here" asked a buxom blonde who was sitting with a black haired woman holding a pig

"Well speak of the devil hello there Tsunade" said Jiraiya as he gave a smirk

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To their immense surprise Tsunade was sitting at a booth with a bottle of alcohol in front of her. Her black haired companion, Shizune, sat next to her with a small pink pig in her arms. The four all had mirror image expressions of shock.

"Jeez, this is a day of reunions isn't it?" Tsunade said as she tossed back another serving of sake, her blonde hair moving over her shoulder. She looked worn and slightly rumpled, her eyes not quite focusing as they should.

"What do you mean?" Jiraiya asked even though he was pretty sure what she was talking about.

"That bastard Orochimaru decided to pay me a visit." Tsunade took another drink. "So Sensei is dead, huh?"

"Yes, and that's why I'm here. The council voted you in as the new Hokage." Jiraiya had slid into the seat in front of Tsunade. Naruto sat next to him observing the conversation.

"Che, who in their right mind would want that shit job." Tsunade snorted into her alcohol.

"Hey! You can't say that! Being Hokage is the greatest honor in the village." Naruto shouted at her, deeply offended by her lax comment.

"Who are you, twerp." Tsunade gave him the squinty eye."Who's the kid?"

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto!" Naruto said with a withering glare .

At the mention of the boy's name her eyes narrowed and turned to the blonde who was obviously sizing her up while she thought _-So this is the kid that Minato sealed Kyubbi into, he looks somewhat familiar…-_

"You really think high of the Hokage position boy, why? The Hokage is the greatest ninja in the whole Leaf." Tsunade sneered at him.

"I _will_ be Hokage one day." Naruto told her firmly.

"Being Hokage does nothing but shorten your life. Every single Hokage died for that worthless village, and even more people died trying to become Hokage." Tsunade gritted her teeth, eyes distant.

"So? Everybody dies sometime right? At least they died doing something important." Naruto glared across the table at the busty blonde.

Jiraiya was watching Naruto from the corner of his eye. He turned back to his former team mate, who was still looking at Naruto, and said. "So Tsunade… what is your answer? Will you become the Godaime Hokage?"

There was a moment of tense silence before blonde kunochi snorted. "Impossible… I decline!"

"And why would you decline such a great position, I thought that you are the first Hokage's granddaughter" asked Naruto in a neutral tone as his left temple started twitching.

The more than slightly intoxicated kunoichi continued. "But even he died quickly… all the Hokages have died, or will die for their village." She didn't notice the twitching escalate but rather continued. "Being a Hokage is a shit job… only a fool would voluntarily be one." There was a loud cracking sound when a piece of the table was crushed in Naruto's grip and surely enough the blonde boy charged over the table towards the older blonde. Or would have had Jiraiya not grabbed the back of his shirt and stopped him with a whisper of "We're in a bar now moron…"

Tsunade was amused at the sight of a short blonde standing on a table… until the blonde opened his mouth that is. Slamming his fist against the palm of his hand the said blonde declared in a loud voice. "I don't care if she's an old woman…" Now it was Tsunade's turn to develop a twitch. "…but I'll forgive no-one who slanders the old man in front of me… I'll kick your ass till you learn some respect you hag." And thought "_she may be a one of the Sannin but no one disrespects the third in front of me and lives to tell about it"_

Jiraiya was barely concealing his mirth while Tsunade was visibly pissed and barely restrained by Shizune who also reminded the older blonde that they were, indeed in a bar. As a result Tsunade regained her composure and stood up to be on eye level with Naruto before saying. "All right shrimp… let's take this outside."

They all moved outside with Shizune trying to broker a peace between the enraged blondes and Jiraiya completely enjoying the whole situation. _-Tsunade-Chan seems to be a little shaken in her faith to Konoha… well, if anyone can rekindle that flame it's Naruto. The brat just rubs onto everyone in a good way.-_ His musings were interrupted by the now very agitated medic ninja who was trying to prevent, what she surmised as bloodbath. Jiraiya just smiled in a charming way and inquired about Orochimaru's arms.

Shizune was perplexed but described the damage, and implored Jiraiya to intervene. The Toad Sennin just smirked and pointed at the two blondes facing of at the middle of the street before saying. "Don't underestimate him… he's the most surprising ninja I have ever seen. Tsunade is going to win but I bet that the brat is going to knock some wind out of her sails."

This certainly surprised the black haired ninja and she turned at the two combatants just as Tsunade finished stating that she'd finish Naruto off with one finger. Naruto smirked as his eyes turned cold and then he charged. A quick feint with several shuriken to force opponent to dodge and a quick straightforward blow with a fist didn't quite produce the result Naruto was looking for. Tsunade dodged yes, only she did so twice… neatly ducking under the extended arm and inside Naruto's guard.

The younger blonde's eyes widened as something hit him under the chin, bobbing his head backwards and then forward giving him only the time to mutter "Oh shit." as a fist filled his vision a second before a powerful flick of a finger sent him flying

Naruto got up from this and growled at her, he put his hands in a ram seal and yelled "**Flash Step**" and ran towards the buxom blonde at very high speed and gave her an axe kick which Tsunade barely dodged and started to fight her and close range and then yelled "**Futon Gale Wind Palm"** and blasted Tsunade her about ten feet and yelled "Are you going to apologize now you old hag"

The moments the words 'Old Hag' had left his mouth Naruto realized that yes, he was doomed, He had only a moment to contemplate the feeling of déjà vu, from the times Sakura had the same look on her face, before a fist impacted with his face in an earth shattering force. The short blonde was rocketed into the air and flew some twenty yards before his flight was cut short by a fruit vendor's stall… which, while stoutly built, was completely destroyed by the Jinchuuriki shaped missile. With a groan of finality the remnants of the stall slowly collapsed on top of the boy who lay in the rubble, earning a horrified gasp from Shizune.

It was this gasp from her assistant that brought Tsunade back from her righteous anger trip and into the realization that she had just 'Jiraiya punched' a little kid… annoying little kid but a kid nonetheless. She quickly started moving towards the pile of rubble while fervently praying that the brat was still alive. Jiraiya on the other hand wasn't quite as worried as the two women and began to smile even more widely when the rubble suddenly began to shake as the blonde demon vessel started to wake up from his short 'nap'.

Both Shizune and Tsunade had stopped the moment the pile of rubble began to show first signs of movement, both thinking the same thing... _-There is no way that kid is still conscious…-_ …only to be proven wrong when Naruto, accompanied by a hefty cloud of dust, suddenly sat up, then crawled to his knees and finally stood up, albeit a little shakily. The boy then stuck a finger into his mouth, felt around and finally spat out blood before turning to smile, at the startled women. "Neh… Baa-Chan you hit pretty hard for an old lady. You should probably watch your temper though, it's not good for your heart to…"

And continued "And now back to our fight"

Tsunade blinked, she'd just handed the kid's ass to him and he was coming back for more. Trying to dissuade the obviously suicidal brat from getting killed she asked. "What the hell do you care anyway? For Sarutobi or the Yondaime….… you of all people should have no reason to care about him. Why is the title of Hokage so important to you?"

Naruto suddenly let go of his offensive stance and locked onto the older blonde eyes. "Yeah well… if it wasn't for the old man I'd be dead now. I would have starved to death after I was kicked out of the orphanage or killed by someone or I would simply have just killed myself to get away from it all." He snorted. "But the old man he looked after me and was always there foe me and he's the Hokage of Konoha and it's his duty to look after the people of Konoha even if it kills him. When he had the time he would tell me stories about the previous Hokages, Yondaime in particular…" The boys features hardened. "That's when I decided that I would become Hokage too... so that the villagers would have no other choice but to recognize my existence. And when I found the truth I was devastated you know. My personal idol was the very reason people shunned me… I was angry, mad… I felt betrayed. But I had a new reason to become the Hokage… my precious people, I will protect them until there is no life left in me" Naruto pointed a finger at the woman and yelled. "And for those people I will become Hokage... It's my dream!" With that he charged towards the now distracted Tsunade while starting to form the second stage of the Rasengan in his right hand.

Tsunade barely registered the furious charge, she was still trying to shake the memories of her little brother and her former lover who also had proclaimed that it was their dream to become the Hokage to protect those important to them. She was snapped out of her reverie when she suddenly registered the beginnings of a technique she hadn't seen in very long time. Casting a frown at Jiraiya she decided to stop the foolishness before it got out of hand, a Genin with such techniques could a hazard to himself as well to others. Naruto let out a startled yelp as Tsunade's index finger impacted against the earth in front of him causing a large fissure to form beneath him and causing him to lose his footing making him plummet face first into the crevice.

Even as Naruto was dragging himself back on the street Tsunade was glaring at Jiraiya. "So… Jiraiya. Was it you who's teaching him the Rasengan. You are a fool, only the Yondaime and you ever were able to master that technique. You really shouldn't do things like that… it only gives fools like him weird notions about being able to become the Hokage."

Tsunade was about to say more but was cut off when something solid grabbed her around her head and brought her face to face with a rather vexed Naruto. Brown eyes met steely blue as the boy all but snarled. "It's no weird notion you old hag… I'll become Hokage even if it kills me. And I'll prove it by mastering the Rasengan in three days."

Tsunade just snorted as Jiraiya intervened at this point and unceremoniously plucked Naruto away from the woman. She then wagged a teasing finger in front of the openly fuming Naruto "Brave words from a brat but… a man's word should never be taken back you know."

The blue eyes hardened again with a determined glint while Naruto all but ground out. "I never go back on my word. That's my Nindo."

Jiraiya smiled inwardly, there was a fleeting emotion that was barely visible on the young face of the 50 year old blonde Sannin… emotion that was ruthlessly crushed and replaced by a mask of cynical gambler. Tsunade smirked victoriously at the boy and said. "Three days huh? Well I'll be a good sport and give you a week. If you can master the Rasengan in a week I'll openly acknowledge that you have what it takes to become a Hokage… heck I'll help you and give you a free week of training if you want. I'll even sweeten the deal by throwing in this here necklace…" She shook a necklace that was hanging loosely, and quite provocatively, between her ample breasts. She then jingled Naruto's Gama-Chan purse that the boy had managed to fill with a little luck, and which she had 'procured' sometime during their scuffle. "If you can't do it however… I'll just take all your money."

Naruto nodded mutely in agreement, got pissed when Tsunade snorted victoriously and was about to do a two-handed Rasengan when Jiraiya grabbed him and shook him slightly. "Master the Jutsu Gaki… emphasis on the mastering part." He tossed Naruto next to Shizune and pointed the two. "You two get rooms at a hotel. Me and Tsunade have some catching up to do… don't we?" He pointedly ignored glares from both of the blondes and cast a questioning look at the older of them. Tsunade simply shrugged and gave a slight nod to Shizune who grabbed Naruto and began to drag the fuming boy towards the nearest hotel.

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Tsunade and Jiraiya had downed their first cups and exchanged some small talk. Jiraiya poured some more sake before saying. "You know you are going to lose your bet?" Tsunade just snorted and downed a small cup causing the white haired man to smile slyly. "If I wasn't a complete gentleman I'd suggest a little bet on the outcome with you going on a date with me as the stake but…"

At that Tsunade actually laughed. "A gentleman? You? Hahaha Jiraiya you old pervert… fine a date says he can't do it. And when he can't then you'll have to take me to gambling for hmm… a week."

Jiraiya took another sip of sake before saying. "You sure?" After seeing a confirming nod he smiled rather saucily. "Don't say I didn't warn you then. By the way… how were Orochimaru-teme's arms."

Tsunade smiled rather grimly. "Sarutobi-sensei went down fighting it seems. Orochimaru arm was cut off from the elbow… judging by the damage I'd say Enma-sama took a bite out of him. And all his chakra pathways were destroyed completely by a technique that damaged his beyond repair…"

Jiraiya smiled smugly before offering some more sake. "Yeah… Sarutobi was able to knock his hands out he went down fighting it seems and what do you think of Naruto and his flash step and his sealless Futon Jutsu"

"Some thing you taught him no doupt,"said Tsunade with a snarl

"Actually no that he did it himself, I have only started training him for two and half months" said Jiraiya with a smile

Tsunade just gaped and then mechanically drained her own cup before suddenly smiling again. "That changes nothing though… I'll admit that I might have underestimated the Gaki there's no way he'll be able to perform the Rasengan by the end of the week."

Jiraiya shrugged at this and waited until Tsunade sipped some more sake before saying. "Oh the boy can already do the Rasengan…" Smirking he watched as Tsunade recovered from another coughing fit and the sake vendor dried himself with a look of disgust and continued. "Lets see… it took him 2 days to get the first stage, 5 days to get the second and about a week to get the third stage only using two hands though." Being the 'gentleman' he poured some more sake to Tsunade. "But mastering the Jutsu… well… he'll do it or get himself totally banged up trying to. He would be dead from chakra exhaustion a hundred times over already were it not for the nine-tails but hey… if you have a near infinite well of chakra in your belly why not use it as the nine tails just speeds up his recovery."

Jiraiya began to hum as stream of rather caustic curses began to rip through the night air.

"Although onto serious matters now" said Jiraiya with a serious face

"What is it" said Tsunade as she looked at jiriya seriously

"I know for a fact what he asked of you Tsunade but should you go against Konoha teammate or not I will kill you Tsunade" said Jiraiya with a straight face

"We shall see "said Tsunade not looking at him. Both knew that Jiraiya was serious and if Tsunade go against him she will only lose. Jiraiya just nodded at her and left the stand leaving some money on the stand

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Naruto was busy brushing his teeth when there was a demanding knock on the door. Grumbling to himself he quickly spat out the toothpaste and hastily rinsed his mouth some water before answering the door. He nodded in recognition of Tsunade's assistant Shizune.

She looked decidedly uncomfortable as if she was doing something wrong. "Look Naruto-kun I… please don't think that Tsunade-Sama is a bad person. She… she used to." When Naruto, who was still slightly pissed at the 'old hag', snorted she began to yell. "You don't know a thing about her so don't act like you do…" At this point the dark haired woman noticed slight tensing of the boy's muscles and calmed down. "I… sorry for yelling it's just that she wasn't always like this. She used to be more like you I guess until…" Shizune shook her head as Naruto cocked his head curiously as if waiting for her to continue.

The story of Nawaki, Tsunade's brother and Dan, her lover and Shizune's uncle shocked Naruto to the core. Where he'd been rather vexed with the blonde he was now more understanding. Tsunade had lost the only thing Naruto held dear in life, her precious people. He did, however, chuckle when Shizune mentioned that Tsunade's necklace was cursed and then proceeded to explain. "Shizune-Nee Chan if I believed in curses I'd be dead a thousand times over." He then patted the woman on the shoulder. "I think I can understand Baa Chan a little better now… still I'll kick her ass if she doesn't apologize for insulting the old man or Yondaime even though the guy is a jack ass"

Shizune just blinked, there was something skirting at the edges of her memory but she wasn't quite able to remember what. Naruto on the other hand just smiled. "Eh… well let's elaborate. The day I was born the Yondaime Hokage sort of sealed the Nine-tailed demon fox into me… you know I'm that guy. And as the wonderful result I've been having sort of a shitty 13 years of life so far." Naruto scowled. "You know the kind of being tossed to the street from the orphanage when I was 4, being driven out of pretty much every shop, playground and so on… The joys of living a life of the Jinchuuriki."

The woman gasped and tried to think about something to say but only a weak "Eh… Naruto-kun... where are you going?" came out.

The boy was already half out the window when he glanced over his shoulder. "I'm going to train." With a burst of speed he was out of the window and out of sight before Shizune even made it to the window.

None of them noticed Tsunade who was quietly weeping on a nearby ledge.

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Four days passed and Tsunade and Jiraiya seemed to be avoiding each other. It was on the third day that Tsunade heard a loud "Sh*t!" coming from a ramen stand. She cocked an eyebrow at the familiar voice and peered though the curtain, her eyes widened as she watched Naruto trying to eat with hands that were shaking so badly he was barely able to hold the chopsticks… and it wasn't just his right hand but both, forcing the boy to slurp the ramen directly from the bowl. The Sannin frowned _-By the gods… how hard has he been pushing… hard can you push to make the coils in your hands to clamp up that bad.-_

After Naruto had suffered the indignity of being unable to consume ramen rapidly enough he had paid his two bowls and moved down the street to a Dango stall were he'd ordered a dozen stamina Dango to go and proceeded back to his training spot with the nourishment that wouldn't require as much manual dexterity as eating ramen for instance. Unbeknownst to the young blonde he was quietly shadowed by Tsunade who was feeling more than slightly curious about the fierce determination that seemed to mark this newest Hokage-wannabe.

Back at his clearing there were about half a dozen or so trees that had been partially drilled through with what Tsunade surmised were Naruto's attempts with the Rasengan. She frowned slightly and almost stepped from her hiding place as Naruto once again began to force chakra into his hands that were shaking like a leaf in a whirlwind. With a loud yell of frustration Naruto gave up and whacked his hands together while cursing profanely before sighing and taking a deep breath. Tsunade's eyes narrowed as the boy then walked to a nearby stream, stepped on its surface and carefully, with his shaking hands, deposited a leaf on his forehead and kunai. _-He's combining water walking and the academy leaf floating technique to train his chakra control while waiting for his hands to recuperate.-_ Silently the woman continued her vigil, only to be astonished at the sheer stubbornness of the boy. After a few hours Naruto had barely moved and was still standing in middle of the stream with only the profuse sweating as proof of his exertion. And as the boy finally moved to the riverbank he simply dunked himself into the icy stream, swam back to the shore and examined his hands for a few short moments. With a grunt of determination the boy then began to form a Rasengan in his right hand… and then in the left as his right hand began to shake after half dozen intense tries… and then the process of water walking began anew. Only several hours after sundown did Naruto finally collapse leaving Tsunade to wrestle with her own consciousness in the dark…

Next morning when Naruto woke up he was tugged into a green coat that definitely wasn't his. Carefully the boy surveyed his surroundings before sniffing the coat and thinking. _-Second thoughts Tsunade-baachan?-_ Then the boy flexed his fingers and smiled. "Yosh! Time to train! I'll be like the spirit of youth." Then he blinked and thought. _-Crap… that was a bit too much like Lee.-_ Regardless he devoured what was left of his Dango, thought briefly about a certain Hyuuga girl who had been invading his thoughts recently and blushing at their last encounter before standing up and again focusing chakra to his palm. _-Three more days to get this damn technique. I won't lose… I can't lose… even if just for the old hag's sake-_

The week drew close as Shizune, who had gotten rather anxious about the young boy, went looking for him. The med nin found him in a clearing where they both stopped to survey what appeared to be a battle zone. Stones had been overturned, trees blasted into splinters with only stumps remaining as evidence that they had ever existed. Amidst all that carnage Naruto was snoring away, carefully tugged into a familiar green overcoat. Shizune's eyes widened as she muttered. "Tsunade-Sama…" she gently lifted the exhausted teenager and headed out of the demolished clearing.

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Naruto's soft transition from sleep to full wakefulness was interrupted as his sleep addled brain registered the fact that he was laying on a soft surface. With a yelp he bolted upright and tossed the bedding off himself… along with startled Ton-ton. The boy blinked a couple of times before hopping out of the bed only to come face to face with a very perplexed Shizune. Naruto simply dismissed her startled questions about his seemingly miraculous recovery from severe chakra exhaustion and coil overcharging with a slight wave of his hand and said. "A nights rest is all it takes when you got a demon tugged away in your gut." Then he looked about and asked. "Where's the old hag anyway… she's due some serious attitude adjustment today."

With a sudden realization that she was late Shizune jumped towards the window and yelled. "You stay here Naruto-kun." Only to be stopped when a kunai imbedded itself into the windowpane right in front of her face." There was Jiraiya, Mt. Myobukuzan's holy master Sennin, looking decidedly miserable as he was barely able to lean against the wall.

Naruto naturally took in his sensei's sorry state and started yelling. "you look like hell Ero-sennin… what the hell are you doing all wasted? I thought that a boozehound like you could at least fight off a hangover." When Jiraiya managed to croak out that Tsunade had poisoned him the blonde exploded again. "You've got to be the lamest Sannin around… all you do is talk all day about how great you are and there you go and get drugged. Sheesh…" Then jiraiya suddenly stiffened and said "We've got company"

There was a slight scuffle of movement as the nin with a sound hiyate took off after noticing that he'd been detected. Jiraiya only nodded towards Naruto before turning to Shizune. "Now what did Orochimaru offer… whatever it is we need to stop this now." The dark haired woman only nodded and said "There isn't much time, I'll explain on the way."

They were still some ways from the castle where the meeting was taking place when a massive shock shook the trees Naruto, Shizune and Jiraiya were using to speed towards the meeting place. Shizune and Jiraiya both sighed in relief when Naruto commented. "Sounds like Baa Chan said 'NO!'" Moments later there was another heavy crashing sound followed by an ominous silence. Pressing forward even faster the trio soon arrived at the site of the recent battle.

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No sooner than they made their entry to the battlefield did Naruto come face to face with the traitor Kabuto and saw the other traitor Orochimaru, this caused his anger to boil, standing some distance behind him when he looked at the former Konoha Gennin, he had mistrusted him back then when he helped them and now here is his final answer. That was when Tsunade decided to have another go at Kabuto only to be immobilized when Kabuto slashed his own wrist spraying her with the blood and knocking her back with a well placed blow.

As he glared at Kabuto who smirked at him. "You think that making scary faces is going to faze me? Naruto-kun you are nothing more than a cute little Gennin in the wrong place at the wrong time. You rely on that monster that is in you but still here you are nothing but an insect that will be crushed if it makes too much noise." The young man then pushed his glasses higher up his nose and continued. "If you try something… I'll…"

Naruto just smiled impudently "Yeah, yeah four eyes… You'll kill me in a most horribly terribly excruciating manner conceivable heard that before" The boy grinned as Kabuto's eyes widened. "So why are you working for that bastard anyway?" He then made a rude gesture. "Maybe it's because you like boys hmm? I mean Ero-sennin here swears that Orochimaru-teme has a thing for sweee-eet little boys… now that I think about it he was all over Sasuke-teme too." He shrugged at Kabuto who was now developing a slight twitch. "Who am I to judge though… I mean what you and him do at night is your business but hey." He then pointed an accusing finger at the older boy before saying. "Not that it matters because you betrayed the Leaf and for that I'll kill you!"

Ignoring Jiraiya's shout Naruto burst forward and created several Kage Bunshins on the run. He had negated his weights in his initial rush from the hotel. Four clones surrounded Kabuto as the real Naruto jumped into air and drew in a breath while flashing through several hand seals before yelling '**Katon: Great Fireball Jutsu**' and breathing several small fireballs towards the Otonin. Kabuto was surprised but far from being in danger. He swiftly sidestepped and grabbed one clone with his good hand and used it as a shield as he quickly moved behind another clone which he destroyed with a well placed kick while the Katon Jutsu minced one more clone that was no in the line of fire. Naruto sniffed in annoyance and moved in an attempt to get a blow to Kabuto's right side that was left vulnerable due to the rather deep cut in his arm.

The blow connected but so did Kabuto's and both combatants were sent flying back to their respective directions. Naruto landed rather softly as he was caught from flight by Shizune who used the opportunity to spit several needles towards the momentarily distracted Sound spy and actually managed to imbed both needles securely into his thigh and left shoulder. Kabuto who was still reeling from Naruto's blow winced. _-Shit… those are probably poisoned too… I've got to hurry.-_

As the eye-glassed boy retreated next to his master and began to heal himself Jiraiya turned to Naruto and Shizune. "Shizune you take care of the guy in the glasses… I'll deal with Orochimaru." He only briefly glanced at Naruto who was nearly jumping out of skin. "And before you even suggest it brat you will be guarding Tsunade, Ton-ton These guys are whole another level and while both of them underestimated you at first they won't make the same mistake again. Even that glasses guy is probably at Kakashi's level."

Naruto was about to object but a stern look from Jiraiya quieted him. He huffed instead and acknowledged the old man with a slight nod before making several clones and moving into a better position to cover the older blonde. Or that was his intention when Orochimaru, with Kabuto's aid summoned two huge snakes and Jiraiya, still in his debilitated state, summoned Gamakichi instead of Gamabunta. Naruto would have laughed out loud had it not been such a serious situation… as things stood he simply rushed next to Jiraiya, bit his thumb and flashed through the required hand seals. There was a yell of '**Summoning Jutsu**' as a huge cloud of smoke obscured both Jiraiya and Naruto from view.

Orochimaru cursed as the huge pipe smoking toad yelled. **"Orochimaru… you bastard. Where's your little pet Manda… I have a bone to pick with that little serpent and I'm in a need of a snakeskin wallet."** Gamabunta then turned his eyes upwards as there was a slight scuffle on top of his head when Jiraiya without much ceremony tossed Naruto down and yelled. "I'll take care of Orochimaru-teme you look after Tsunade."

There was a wailing yell of "Daaaaammmnnn you Ero-sennin… you could have said 'Thanks' at the least.." as Naruto pretty much rolled down Gamabunta's back. The boss toad chuckled **"Ha Jiraiya I see the brat is here too… you owe me one heck of an explanation after we stomp that bastard."**

On top of the two snakes there was another kind of conversation going on. "Kabuto you kill that assistant woman and that damn Kyuubi brat, he is too strong and he will become yoo powerful in the future for my taste kill them while I delay that old fool and Gamabunta… As long as Tsunade stays out of the fight we should have no trouble even with that damnable toad." Kabuto simply pushed his glasses up again and nodded before leaping down to engage Shizune.

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The snakes lunged forward and Gamabunta bellowed as he met the slithering mass head on. Unfortunately for those on the ground the clash of these massive summons was akin to a natural disaster. Gamabunta had the advantage of mass both relatively, he was the Gama-Boss after all, and literally as one huge toad did outweigh two massive snakes. However the snakes had a two-to-one advantage which they, under Orochimaru's directions, used for the full extent. Jiraiya did try to level the playing field with his '**Doton: Swamp of the Underworld** but due to the drug Tsunade had slipped him he only managed to slow down one of the snakes.

Incidentally Jiraiya didn't do any favors to those on the ground as the snake caught in the large swamp trashed about and would have flattened Tsunade had not Naruto, who was still somewhat disoriented from his rapid descent from Gamabunta's back, sprang forward and tossed the woman at Shizune in a desperate attempt to save her life. The gamble worked, but with a price. Naruto was hit by the snake's tail and got slammed hard into the ground while Shizune was distracted from her fight with Kabuto.

As a result the dark eyed woman, who landed rather badly in an attempt to keep her mentor from harm, got hit several times by Kabuto despite him unable to use his left hand. The traitor smirked as Tsunade's assistant spat out a mouthful of blood while her mentor looked on, in her blood induced shock. _-Help her! Help her!_ Was the only thought running through Tsunade's mind as she tried to fight the effects of hemophobia. She looked over to Shizune, being brutally toyed by the eye-glassed traitor. From there her eyes drifted to Naruto, who was laying in a shallow depression his impact with the ground had caused. One of the legendary Sannin tried to move, she tried to will her body to strike at the smirking menace that was torturing her own assistant… and soon would torture the boy whose spirit so resembled that of her own brother and that of her lover.

This internal struggle brought attention to her though. Kabuto, albeit carefully, closed in on the mentally crippled Sannin. The young man smirked before saying. "Ah… so you are truly so weak Tsunade-Sama… and to think I once looked up to you. Even the now deceased Kyubbi brat showed more guts. I hear he didn't freeze on the mere sight of blood after all. With that, and a snort of disdain, the traitorous Shinobi slammed his fist to Tsunade's face. "So weak… I expected more from one of the legendary Sannin… more so from the legendary Tsunade-hime, the queen of medics." Kabuto sneered as he kicked at the downed woman at the ribs and then hit her on the face to break her features once and for all, only the blow was never delivered as he was kicked to the side by a powerful kick.

Tsunade was still in a blood induced shock, she tried to break out when her apprentice and companion Shizune was being beaten… she tried to break out when she, herself, was beaten. She could clearly see each and every blow that landed, she was also burned by the realization that were it not for her hemophobia, that she could stop each and every one of the blows directed at her student… She winced, expecting a blow that never landed. Tsunade blinked and saw the boy flash step behind Kabuto and kick him to the side and he cheerily asked. "Oi Baa Chan… you need any help?"

The spy sneered and brought his other hand in a low sweep and batted away both the Sannin and the Gennin. Kabuto sneered again as he faced Naruto. "Naruto-kun… seriously you are a nuisance and I will kill you. You should contemplate on the wisdom of your actions… A mere Gennin is not expected to make tactical decisions but as he advances in rank he'll be forced to evaluate the conditions on a battlefield. And as you aspire to become a Hokage you should start now by realizing that your opponent overpowers you in every aspect and as such should understand that your dream will die here with you unless you run… run away far and fast without turning to look back."

Naruto, who had been checking on Tsunade and Shizune, suddenly glared at the traitor with his cold blue eyes while snarling to reveal mouth glistening with saliva. If the traitor was intimidated, however, he didn't show it. Kabuto once more corrected the position of his glasses and sneered. "And those looks… they will get you killed even if you survive the day. Besides with that dislocated shoulder of yours…" The blonde shook his head ruefully at this making the glassed boy laugh out. "Don't try to fool me Naruto-kun… I am after expert in medical Ninjutsu. Your shoulder is unusable and judging by the bloody foam that seeps from your mouth every now and then I'd say your ribs are broken and pressing against your lung… This is the very reason you are so different from Sasuke-kun… he, unlike you, has natural talent and the brains to realize when he should cut his losses and run… you on the other hand are a no-talent bum who's relying on the nine-tails to get him out of trouble."

Naruto on the other hand just gave a one-sided shrug before saying. "My shoulder isn't dislocated… if it was I'd be able to pop it right back in… Been there and done that you know,I think you are right about the ribs though… so a broken shoulder, few broken ribs and a badly turned ankle. Not a very fair fight but since I'm such a good sport I'll give you a chance to run…"

Tsunade gasped and tried to say something when Kabuto all but screamed. "That's it brat I'll kill you… I'll do it slow so that you will see the true meaning of suffering."

As the traitorous mednin closed in on Naruto the boy spoke to the woman behind him. "Oi Tsunade-Baa Chan… hope you got that necklace handy because you are going to lose our bet…"

Meanwhile Gamabunta had managed to trap one of the snakes under his webbed foot and had just brought his tanto down on its neck, decapitating the snake and causing it to vanish in a burst of smoke. The two Sannin were exchanging blow for a blow as Jiraiya's drugged state was offset by Orochimaru's lack of arms. The two men were eyeing each other when Kabuto's scream drew their attention. Orochimaru chuckled as his minion charged towards the obviously hurt Naruto… soon however the chuckle died on his lips and it was Jiraiya's turn to chuckle.

Naruto prepared to meet the charge head on as he pointedly ignored Tsunade's pleas to stop runaway or save himself. Kabuto smiled victoriously as his blue glowing hand began to drive towards Naruto's left and disabled side… a smile that faded as the hand was grabbed by his left hand and held in an iron grip

"Now you are holding me Naruto and my left hand is paralyzed what are you going to do" said Kabuto with a dangerous smirk

The blonde Jinchuuriki spat out some bloody froth before offering a fanged grin. "Just this traitor." He then turned his head to Tsunade. "Oi Baa Chan you looking?" Kabuto's smile faded slightly as Naruto held out his right hand and a small rotation of chakra began to form on it… the rotation then grew in speed and in force causing violent buffeting of winds around the boy until a sphere of spinning chakra was formed in his hand. Naruto smirked at Kabuto's stunned expression. "You were saying something about no talent and inability to use jutsus."

With that the boy lunged forward while using his hand to pull Kabuto towards him and yelled out "**RASENGAN**" before thrusting the glowing ball of chakra into the traitor's gut

Kabuto just barely managed to avoid taking the hit in the stomach, taking it in the shoulder instead. Before he was sent flying he managed to tap Naruto hard, right above the heart, with his green hand, causing Naruto to crumple,

"Twerp?" Tsunade said in a scared voice for his wellbeing. She reached out a shaky hand to touch his face and felt her fingers clench in anger

The boy started retching loudly. The retching turned into a fit of coughing after which Naruto spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed right next to Tsunade, who suddenly had a flashback from a rainy clearing where her fiancé also spat out some blood before dying in her hands. With a strangled yell of "Nooo" the blonde woman flashed through hand seals and whispered "Shosen Jutsu" (Mystical Palm Technique) while placing her blue glowing hands on Naruto's chest. The blonde Sannin furiously pumped chakra into her technique while yelling. "Don't you die on me you damn brat… I'll beat the living shit out of you if you do."

There was a slight twitch before Naruto opened one eye and glared at the woman. "Keep it down will you baachan, I'm trying to recover here." Then the boy winked and said. "Besides it's not like I can die before I become the Hokage, get your necklace" Tsunade just let out a choked mixture of crying and laughing and continued to fix the tear in Naruto's lung…

Kabuto was holding a hand over his left shoulder. The pain was tremendous and he was having a tough time healing it. The Rasengan had only grazed him really but it had managed to cut some of the nerves running down his arm, leaving it hanging near useless at his side. What he couldn't understand was why it was so damn hard to heal. he tried to get up but only managed to fall face first in the ground

"You can't heal it can you?" Jiraiya called across the field, surprising the Sound pair.

"What are you talking about?" Orochimaru frowned before sliding his eyes to his right hand man. He was greatly worried when he saw the still bleeding wound though it didn't show.

"The Rasengan shreds everything, even the cells. Makes it hard to regenerate them through cell division and slows down normal healing as well. Even with _your_ ability that's gonna take a couple of days to be at one hundred percent again." Jiraiya smirked proudly. "You may have knocked the kid but he did quite a number on you as well."

Kabuto scowled fiercely. His arm wouldn't be much good for this fight, and Orochimaru's were useless as well. They were no match against Jiraiya and Shizune, and that was even counting Tsunade.

Orochimaru wasn't indeed smiling as Jiraiya commented. "Ooh I bet that hurt… looks like your little boy-toy is down for good." The perverted Sennin turned at his former team mate before smiling grimly. "Not that you really need to dwell on it… I'm sure you'll reunite with him in the hell I'll send you in a moment."

Had Jiraiya know what was going through Orochimaru's mind he wouldn't have wasted time on gloating. The snake Sannin narrowed his eyes as Tsunade began fervently heal the boy. _-That damn brat… not only does he have Kyubbi's power but that bastard Yondaime's abilities it seems not to mention that flash step of his which may be come equal to Hiraishin if not careful. Even the Sharingan is powerless against the 'Hiraishin'… I will have to kill him now or he'll become a nuisance… too bad that I can't use his body because of the Kyubbi.-_

With that he sped past the now startled Jiraiya while condescendingly yelling. "I'll finish you later fool… but first I'll get rid of the brat before he reaches his full potential." Jiraiya cursed and launched after his former team mate, only to be grabbed by Orochimaru's freakishly elongated tongue and smashed to the ground below.

Tsunade on the other hand took a deep breath and relaxed. She'd healed the damaged lung and temporarily fixed the ribs. The boy needed a lot more work but the immediate danger had passed… his shoulder needed fixing and the ribs needed to be set and bandaged… not to mention that the brat needed about a week in bed to recover from extreme chakra exhaustion. She smirked at Naruto who was staring at the clouds before unclasping her necklace and slipping it around Naruto's neck. The boy raised the necklace and stared at it before saying. "Ero-Sennin said this is valuable enough to buy several mountains… I've been thinking… maybe mountains of ramen?" Before sighing in a content tone as he began a nice daydream about mountains of ramen and woke up as remembered that they were in midst of a battle field.

Naruto winced as he sat upright only to be pushed aside by Tsunade who tried to throw herself in way of Orochimaru and his Kusanagi sword that was being pushed out of his mouth by a snake. Blood splattered everywhere as Tsunade cursed, she'd been pushed aside by Naruto and now Naruto stood there, with the long blade protruding from his back. Orochimaru smirked as the Jinchuuriki tried to form another Rasengan, only to fail when the legendary sword twisted slightly in his abdomen. The smirk turned sour, though when there were two distinct flares of killing intent… one was from Tsunade who was stalking him with death in her eyes, the other was coming from behind him from Jiraiya who was looking at him with murder in his eye and as he looked at the boy he was surprised to see the wound began to close around the sword even as Orochimaru watched. Only thing that saved his head was a swift pulling back, even so the Sannin didn't escape without damage as powerful punch from Tsunade tore their way along his cheek and cleanly ripped off his lower jaw thankfully he was able to pull the sword out of the boy before the wound closed itself

Blinking the daze out of his eyes Orochimaru noted that his imminent death was postponed as Tsunade had immediately turned her focus on Naruto, who had taken several staggering steps before collapsing to the ground. A short victorious smile, or what would have been a smile had Orochimaru still had his jaw, vanished as he noticed Jiraiya slowly stalking him while Gamabunta demolished his last remaining snake summon. Cursing to himself Orochimaru decided that if he wanted to continue his existence he'd have to escape

"Come Kabuto we are leaving" with a hate filled glare the snake Sannin seemed to sink into the ground along with a dizzy Kabuto leaving a cursing Jiraiya behind.

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Shizune had woken only moments before and had been rather stunned by spectacle of Naruto taking a hit for Tsunade. When the blonde collapsed however, the medic in her took over and the dark haired woman started towards the boy completely ignoring her own wounds, which were serious but not life threatening. Tsunade was already working on the boy and barely acknowledged her assistant as the two began a desperate battle to save the boy's life… not only was the wound severe but there was a great probability that Orochimaru had poisoned the blade.

As Jiraiya made his way to the two mednins and his downed apprentice he simply asked. "Is he going to be all right?"

Tsunade didn't even look up from her healing as she simply answered. "The brat is going to be the Rokudaime Hokage… he can't die on some god forsaken field in middle of nowhere."

Jiraiya suppressed the sudden urge to laugh and nodded. "Well… the teme ran away, I am going to track him with tracker toads"

It was almost an hour later when a grim looking Jiraiya returned. He answered Tsunade's question with a slight shake of his head and looked over to see Naruto being closely monitored by Shizune. The blonde Sannin made a face before summoning a slug, on which she gently deposited the unconscious Naruto. As the three adults, a pet and the summon carrying Naruto made their way towards the town and their hotel Tsunade said. "He'll live… it was a close thing for a while but there was something, probably the nine-tails, which aided our efforts. The wound is already completely closed and we fixed his shoulder… we still probably need to set it better once we get him into a bed. Then there are signs of prolonged chakra exhaustion… I'd say he's been running on pure determination for the past few days."

Jiraiya then craned his neck towards Naruto. "So… if he's alright you think either of you could fix me up. I sort of busted a rib and my leg is broken I think."

Shizune smirked as Tsunade simply punched Jiraiya on the head and yelled. "You idiot… why didn't you say something before and went on running around with a broken leg." She then checked Jiraiya's swirly eyes and commented with an evil laugh. "Well my special Jiraiya sedation methods still work it seems."

For the second time in as many days Naruto's transition from sleep to full wakefulness was interrupted by the realization that he was sleeping on something soft. With a startled gasp he once again sat upright only to cause Shizune to stumble from her chair. The dark haired mednin's eyes were as wide as dinner plates as she mumbled something along the lines of "Impossible recovery… even with the nine-tails."

Naruto didn't have time to comment on this as he was suddenly smothered in a fierce hug, from which he only got out after some severe struggling. He was then smacked on the side of the head rather savagely as the now enraged Tsunade was towering over him. "You stupid, stupid brat… Don't you ever dare to do something as foolish as going against someone like Orochimaru alone. You could, YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!!! If it wasn't for the nine-tails…"

Naruto on the other hand was getting angry and stood up on the bed just to be on the eyelevel with the ranting Sannin. Pointing an accusatory finger at Tsunade he yelled. "OI! You're one to talk you hypocritical old hag… going against Orochimaru and his butt-buddy with your irrational homophobia."

"Homophobia?" Asked both mednins at the same time.

Naruto waved his hand in the air. "Yeah you know… fear of blood." He was somewhat perplexed as Tsunade suddenly laughed out loud and hugged Naruto lightly as the boy continued "Sheesh some ninja you are Baa Chan… you are almost as lame a Sannin as Ero-Sennin is. I mean he did get poisoned by you so you probably are a little cooler but still pretty lame. I mean come on… blood." Shizune snickered as Naruto was again smothered in a fierce hug by the blonde Sannin.

That was when Jiraiya, who was somewhat jealous about all the hugs, made his presence known. "Hmm I think it's hemophobia brat… And while I'm happy to see you growing up and all that shouldn't you maybe cover yourself up before Tsunade-hime decides to deck you for flashing a couple of beautiful girls."

Several things happened simultaneously. Shizune giggled at Naruto who turned red and let out a "Gah." as he realized that he was only wearing his boxers as he dove for the cover of the sheets. Jiraiya let out a "Gah." as Tsunade's fist slammed into his stomach doubling him over, then he let out a "Guh." as the blonde Sannin continued with and elbow to the top of Jiraiya's head and yelled. "Pervert!"

After the pervert had been dealt with and Naruto was safely beneath his sheets Tsunade turned at the boy. "Now our discussion isn't over but I concede your point that it might not have been the wisest thing to do… but enough of that now. How are you feeling?"

Shizune giggled again as Naruto poked his ribs, his shoulder and then his gut where the Kusanagi had pierced him… when he got there a loud rumble was emitted from his stomach and the boy looked at Tsunade with eyes brimming with tears. "I'm staaarrrrviiiing…"

Jiraiya who was picking himself from the floor was about to say something but Tsunade beat him to it. "Okay brat… because I'm feeling jubilant due to your extraordinary recovery we'll go get whatever you want… my treat."

Her old team mate just snickered as Naruto beamed before shouting. "Raaaaameeeeen!"

Tsunade shrugged before nodding and thought. _-He's a pretty nice kid after all, considerate too… He could have asked for some quality sushi or something and all he wanted was some ramen.-_

Tsunade's smile had turned into a frown and then into a near tearful expression of abject horror as Naruto had polished off his sixth and seventeenth, respectively, bowl of ramen. Shizune on the other hand watched in amazement as the boy ate, ate and ate… and ate. After she finished her second, and last, bowl she turned to Jiraiya and whispered. "Where does he put all that ramen… it should be physically impossible to eat that much." Jiraiya just shrugged and smirked at Tsunade's expression as Naruto ordered yet another bowl of pork ramen.

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The following morning Jiraiya grumbled as the sound of yelling woke him into a slight hangover that was reminder from last night's celebration. He sighed in irritation as Naruto and Tsunade were facing off with both having their chopsticks on the same piece of fish. As he plopped down on the place next to Naruto the boy yelled. "Old hag… I need the fish because I'm a growing boy…"

He was about to say more but Tsunade cut in while tightening her grip on the fish. "Gaki… is that a respectful way to address your new Hokage-Sama… hmm that sounds about like right Hokage-Sama or maybe Tsunade-Sama. Even Godaime-Sama would do."

Naruto snorted and tried to tug the fish towards himself. "Hah… lets get some things straight here. i for one have never caleed the old man hokage and am not atarting with you as wellbesides what did I tell you about your blood pressure. As a mednin you should know that old people should avoid situations in which their blood pressure rises."

Shizune just sighed as the two blondes continued to fight over every piece of food on the table, never mind that there was more than enough of everything. The fight only stopped when Jiraiya patted Naruto on the shoulder and said. "So my boy… you mastered the Rasengan then? So what would you like to learn next… you need but to ask." The boy stared at him as if he'd grown another head so Jiraiya elaborated. "Well… I had a little bet riding on your ability to master the Rasengan too. And guess what? I won… I won a date." The old man began to sob. "A date with the epitome of beauty and the only woman in the all the shinobi countries who has resisted my manly charms and turned me down time after time."

Naruto, with a fishtail sticking out of his mouth, turned towards Tsunade and yelled at her. "And here I thought you had standards and then you go out with Ero-Sennin…"

Tsunade just groaned and hid her slightly flushed face as Jiraiya began to develop a slight twitch before a sly smile crept across his face. _-Why not poke a little fun of the brat while we're on the subject of love…-_ He then ruffled Naruto's hair before asking. "So… have you written your sweet little Hinata-chan?"

"What about her" said Naruto as he hoped in a nonchalant way but he flushed as he was suddenly the two sets of critical eyes that were sizing him up. He stammered something as the two women began to shoot questions like "Ooh you have a girlfriend? What's she like? How long have you been seeing each other?" and so on till

"SHE IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND" bellowed Naruto

"oh really then you fought for her in the final exam and was visiting her during the 2 month training period and not to mention the scene beside the ramen stand" said Jiraiya with a lechourous grin

Naruto blushed till the roots of his hair and was redder than a tomato and in a mortified voice said "you saw that"

"of course I saw that brat " said Jiraiya in a jubilant voice when he was struck down by a irritated Tsunade who was tired of being ignored and said "WHAT happened, tell me OR ELSE"

"Well" muttered a red faced Naruto

**FLASHBACK:**

Naruto had told the old pervert that he would be meeting him at the gates at noon and was going to Ichiraku for the last time before his mission as he would atleast be gone for a few weeks. While he turned he bumped into Hinata who had just finished training and was blushing at the sight at him, their relation ship had improved during the hospital stay.

Naruto was also blushing at her for reasons he himself did not know and said "Hinata Chan what are you doing here"

Hinata blushing heavily said "I just finished my scouting mission Naruto kun and just going to get lunch" (AN:\she is stuttering imagine that she is but she is stuttering less than normal due to her being in Naruto presence before in the hospital)

"Well how about you come to Ichiraku with me for a quick bite" asked Naruto shyly

Hinata blushed beyond tomato red and thought that she was going to faint and with a supreme effort pulled herself together and said "okay Naruto kun" meekly

Naruto was feeling somewhat nervous, something that he really didn't know how to cope with as he was leading Hinata to the ramen stand

Ignoring Ayame's knowing smile they ordered their ramen and was eating silently

Foregoing any talking they dug into their respective dishes, which were the Ichiraku deluxe special that the old man whipped out just to thank them for their efforts in the defense of Konoha. However all things come to an end and Naruto was growing even more uncomfortable. He was spared from trying to talk coherently though when Hinata asked in a tiny voice "Ano… Naruto-kun, why do you have a pack… you are not going anywhere are you?"

"Oh, yeah Hinata-chan I have to go for a mission for some time, for like maybe a month or so." Hinata's face fell at this. "So anyway I just wanted to say goodbye and all that before I go, any way Hinata Chan before I go can I ask you some thing?" Not even knowing where this thought came from but was willing to go through with it

She nodded, only thing that she could do really from the emotional strain of the moment… "I mean would you like to go out with me after I come back… like for a date?"

Hinata was however far from Konoha in a place between the 'Cloud Nine' and 'La-la Land'. Finally as Naruto was getting rather impatient and dejected looking she suddenly returned and squealed in delight as she tackled the startled blonde. "Yes… yes… YES!" She then realized the position they were in and quickly scampered back when the nervousness returned with vengeance. "Ano… Naruto-kun I mean I would like that very much…"

This time it was Naruto who was somewhere far from the vicinity of Konoha… few moments later he returned and flashed out one of his widest smiles as of yet. "Yeah that's great Hinata-chan… so umm well… I guess I'll have to go then." He scratched his hair nervously… "So see you soon right?"

He tried to get up but was stopped by a shy arm that was holding his hand. Hinata was blushing like mad and leaned forward until finally their lips met ever so briefly… it was a peck really and that would have been the end of that if Hinata hadn't suddenly felt the reality of the situation crash over her. _-I'm kissing Naruto-kun… and he's leaving and… I want more!-_

Feeling bolder than ever before in her life she grabbed the Kyuubi's carrier by his blonde hair and pulled him into a full kiss, which was something that Naruto was quick to participate in after getting over his initial shock. Then she remembered something she'd read in a women's magazine that was left lying about in the hospital and decided to go even further causing Naruto to almost faint at the feel of a soft tongue probing his teeth.

Naruto started losing himself in a haze after Hinata had deepened their initially innocent peck into a full blown make out session with tongues and all. He was enjoying himself to the fullest until he began aware of several things. A) They were near Konoha's gates. B) They were as they said 'making out'

As Hinata stopped to draw breath Naruto was in a dizzy state finally he was able to look at Hinata who was busy staring at the ground breathing as hard as him and if not mistaken blushing as hard as him. He stroked her cheek and lifted her chin giving her a real and gentle smile and said "Ah Hinata-chan that was… I take that means that you like me right?."

"Yes Naruto-kun I like you very much and that was for luck" from the girl blushing heavily and stammering worse than usual.

Giving another wild smile and chuckling he saw the position of the sun and realized that he was… late for his meeting with Jiraiya, he walked over to Hinata and hugged her one last time while whispering "Goodbye Hinata-chan, grow strong while I am gone okay." to her ear before jumping off and shouldering his backpack. Flashing the girl a dazzling smile he yelled "Well I'm off to train with Ero-Sennin so you keep on training too and I'll see you soon!" And made way to the gate while Hinata watched them leave with a faint smile and then fainting realizing the full implications of what she had done and nobody saw the faint shimmer of a Genjutsu from above them gave a perverted chuckle as it too rushed towards the gate

**Flashback end:**

Naruto blushing heavily looked at the assembled people as they took in his story and Jiraiya was still giving that perverted chuckle of his while Tsunade and Shizune were sighing dreamily before snapping out of it and started asking questions like how is she like and how she look to the flustered boy

Jiraiya, ever the gallant, took it upon himself to answer these questions and produced a photo from his sleeve. "Ladies, ladies… I'll answer all questions in my apprentice's stead. Here have a look of a very cute moment these two shared in the aftermath of the recent Sound attack their first kiss."

The old pervert as the women giggled at the picture of the Naruto and Hinata kissing each other by the stands. Jiraiya then patted his 'apprentice' on the shoulder again and said. "Have no worries my dear boy… despite the horrible slander you sometimes direct at me without thinking I'll help you when it comes the time to deal with her father. I do, after all, know Hiashi pretty well…"

At this Tsunade's attention was focused on the two males. "Hiashi?" She asked. "As in Hyuuga Hiashi, the head of the Hyuuga clan?" As Jiraiya nodded fervently she smiled rather wickedly at the embarrassed looking Naruto. "You do plan a head brat… I mean deciding to become the Hokage and now wooing the daughter of the Hyuuga head. You'll go far as a ninja I think… I just hope you won't take up gambling."

Naruto just shook his head before saying. "Nah… no challenge there. I mean after Ero-Sennin used all my money on sake and loose women I found a copper coin and decided to slap it in the machine. I won three times in the row and had my gama-chan full of Ryo."

Tsunade's eyes widened as she suddenly reached over the table and 'acquired' Naruto's froggy-purse, opened in and began to cry rivulets of bitter tears causing the boy to sweat drop as Shizune whispered. "She's had a little bad luck with gambling recently."

Note:

Please review on how you like the romance scene please


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